25-01-2026, 06:33 AM
Regarding the “letter column” formatting on pages You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (for You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. most likely), I am now inclined to believe that they are poems. Apparently in medieval times, they used a first letter separated system as a sort of paragraph starter for lines when writing poems.
In the examples copied below from this link You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (in English context) you can see how the formatting is used to suggest a poem is in the works (you can even see the rhymes of the poems in the example image given, of course not implying the VM is in English!).
However, I am still mindful of Koen G.’s good point that the VM may be doing its own thing with the format style.
Since sometimes we find a gallow both as separated letter and as the beginning of its corresponding line, this leads me to consider what others had suggested for the column of letters being an indication of an acrostic poem, or somehow making words for things such as the title of the poem, etc, written in a vertical way.
Interestingly, on f49v, the first 4 letters in the column are repeated three times down their line (ambiguities of the 2’s withstanding), and it is possible to consider that there is a message being given in a vertical way about the text, such as its title as a poem. Until we can read the text, of course, we can never know for sure.
It may also be the case that You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is different from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in that the letters in the column use some of the rare letters found on the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. chart’s third circle from center. In that sense, it may be the case that You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is a poem, but You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. not entirely, or that their vertical title is serving another purpose as well. In f49v, the number of letters on the column match the number of lines of text (26), when it does not on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (34 letters, 32 lines of text).
In You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. letters are mostly lined with the lines, but in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. they are not exactly. However, it is possible that there may be some scribal errors in lining them in f66r, not realizing what they could have stood for in the author’s original, or that for some reason one of the text lines is double-lines (such as text lines 11, or there is an extra o for line 18).
If the “poem” interpretation is considered plausibly, then, this is what I think could be happening in the herbal section.
The author is assembling a catalog of plants that can have both medicinal and even political-military relevance for her (knowledge of poisonous plants to watch out for, or employ if needed as a last resort). She has fertility and pregnancy needs also as a continuing interest, since it is also not just health-wise, but legacy-wise, important to her.
In doing this assembling of her catalog of medical-political plant information handbook and arsenal, in whose drawing symbols she may even be inserting some symbols about herself, she reaches and flags those two plants in particular for personal and biographically significant reasons.
Following what I shared before regarding Aga Tentakulus’s and ReneZ listed and Edith Sheerwood’s identifications, I am still inclined that the “ambiguity” of the two plants may be still a subject of her reflections, and she is realizing how a Water Lily (intentionally or by mistake) could have affected her life as a plant causing sexual impotence for someone (for f49v) and an error in identifying You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as Chamomile, could have caused harms for a loved one she knew or even herself, thinking that another plant was being used in favor of pregnancy, rather than one that induced abortion instead.
I am of course speculating, but my intention is to show, in the context of a personally reflective handbook, those two texts can make sense as poems.
Whether You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. text has any relation to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. chart (third circle) as a geomantic consideration, it may have, but the geomantic consideration for that chart can have its own significance for understanding some of the “what”s of the Voynich manuscript, on which I may comment on later.
In the examples copied below from this link You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (in English context) you can see how the formatting is used to suggest a poem is in the works (you can even see the rhymes of the poems in the example image given, of course not implying the VM is in English!).
However, I am still mindful of Koen G.’s good point that the VM may be doing its own thing with the format style.
Since sometimes we find a gallow both as separated letter and as the beginning of its corresponding line, this leads me to consider what others had suggested for the column of letters being an indication of an acrostic poem, or somehow making words for things such as the title of the poem, etc, written in a vertical way.
Interestingly, on f49v, the first 4 letters in the column are repeated three times down their line (ambiguities of the 2’s withstanding), and it is possible to consider that there is a message being given in a vertical way about the text, such as its title as a poem. Until we can read the text, of course, we can never know for sure.
It may also be the case that You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is different from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in that the letters in the column use some of the rare letters found on the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. chart’s third circle from center. In that sense, it may be the case that You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is a poem, but You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. not entirely, or that their vertical title is serving another purpose as well. In f49v, the number of letters on the column match the number of lines of text (26), when it does not on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (34 letters, 32 lines of text).
In You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. letters are mostly lined with the lines, but in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. they are not exactly. However, it is possible that there may be some scribal errors in lining them in f66r, not realizing what they could have stood for in the author’s original, or that for some reason one of the text lines is double-lines (such as text lines 11, or there is an extra o for line 18).
If the “poem” interpretation is considered plausibly, then, this is what I think could be happening in the herbal section.
The author is assembling a catalog of plants that can have both medicinal and even political-military relevance for her (knowledge of poisonous plants to watch out for, or employ if needed as a last resort). She has fertility and pregnancy needs also as a continuing interest, since it is also not just health-wise, but legacy-wise, important to her.
In doing this assembling of her catalog of medical-political plant information handbook and arsenal, in whose drawing symbols she may even be inserting some symbols about herself, she reaches and flags those two plants in particular for personal and biographically significant reasons.
Following what I shared before regarding Aga Tentakulus’s and ReneZ listed and Edith Sheerwood’s identifications, I am still inclined that the “ambiguity” of the two plants may be still a subject of her reflections, and she is realizing how a Water Lily (intentionally or by mistake) could have affected her life as a plant causing sexual impotence for someone (for f49v) and an error in identifying You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as Chamomile, could have caused harms for a loved one she knew or even herself, thinking that another plant was being used in favor of pregnancy, rather than one that induced abortion instead.
I am of course speculating, but my intention is to show, in the context of a personally reflective handbook, those two texts can make sense as poems.
Whether You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. text has any relation to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. chart (third circle) as a geomantic consideration, it may have, but the geomantic consideration for that chart can have its own significance for understanding some of the “what”s of the Voynich manuscript, on which I may comment on later.