19-09-2026, 10:26 PM
I had a simple idea that I thought might be worth testing regarding the faded inscription above/near the sun on the Rosettes foldout.
I showed a magnified view of the inscription to 20 people around me who were not familiar with the Voynich Manuscript, and simply asked them what they thought the first word looked like at first glance.
I used the high-resolution TIFF scan, without relying on an enhanced or reconstructed version of the writing.
The results surprised me:
14/20 read “Paris”
4/20 read something like “Par ici”
2/20 said they could not read anything and that it was simply too illegible
Of course, this is only a small informal experiment and not scientific evidence. I am also aware that “Paris” has already been suggested in earlier discussions on this forum.
What I find interesting, however, is that these people had no previous familiarity with the manuscript, so they were not influenced by the usual Voynich transcriptions or interpretations.
Folio 86v → Manuscrit de Voynich
Sometimes I wonder whether completely non-specialist observers may notice something that experienced researchers no longer see immediately because we are already familiar with the manuscript and its proposed readings.
I am sharing the result simply and transparently because I think it may be worth reproducing.
Has anyone here tried the same experiment with people who know nothing about the Voynich Manuscript?
If you do, I would be very interested to know what answers you get — ideally without suggesting any possible reading to them beforehand.
Thank you.
I showed a magnified view of the inscription to 20 people around me who were not familiar with the Voynich Manuscript, and simply asked them what they thought the first word looked like at first glance.
I used the high-resolution TIFF scan, without relying on an enhanced or reconstructed version of the writing.
The results surprised me:
14/20 read “Paris”
4/20 read something like “Par ici”
2/20 said they could not read anything and that it was simply too illegible
Of course, this is only a small informal experiment and not scientific evidence. I am also aware that “Paris” has already been suggested in earlier discussions on this forum.
What I find interesting, however, is that these people had no previous familiarity with the manuscript, so they were not influenced by the usual Voynich transcriptions or interpretations.
Folio 86v → Manuscrit de Voynich
Sometimes I wonder whether completely non-specialist observers may notice something that experienced researchers no longer see immediately because we are already familiar with the manuscript and its proposed readings.
I am sharing the result simply and transparently because I think it may be worth reproducing.
Has anyone here tried the same experiment with people who know nothing about the Voynich Manuscript?
If you do, I would be very interested to know what answers you get — ideally without suggesting any possible reading to them beforehand.
Thank you.