(14-05-2026, 11:29 PM)PatrickZ wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.But what if VM is not herbal nor cosmology nor pharmacy language at all ? will have to present a rosetta then ?
What if everybody for 600 years was wrong on the meaning because designed like this by the VM writer(s) as a decoy ?
I think ultimately whatever approach is taken, the result should be convincing to be accepted. And there are many possible ways to achieve this.
- There could be algorithmic proofs, say, providing a way to convert Voynichnese to a plaintext in a purely deterministic, mechanically reproducible and plausible for the 15th century fashion (unless there is some compelling reason to assign a later date)
- There could be knowledge proofs from reading the text, for example, extracting from the text of the manuscript some precise historical information that could be independently verified, like extracting the author's name, cross checking historical records, identifying other works by this author and finding exact parallels (a sample of Voynichese in some other writing would be perfect)
- There could be context proofs, say using images to pinpoint the ideas underlying the manuscript and tracking them to the specific organization or school of thought that produced the manuscript, and finding specific references to this or similar manuscripts in other works of this organization. A combination of clearly related images and a documented historical explanation of the nature and goals of the manuscript may be enough.
I think there are other ways too.
In any case, regardless of which avenue is taken, I think only some very specific evidence can work as a hard proof. Simple similarities between the Voynich Manuscript and some other works won't be enough.
