Could incantations explain some of the problems of the Voynich Manuscript

[Jorge_Stolfi]

monosyllabic phonetically than it was in the 15th century

But how do we know that?  From documents written in "Bavarian"?  They may not reflect the spoken language at all.  See French...

All the best, --stolfi

[JoJo_Jost]

The first sentence would then be pronounced something like this – but without guarantee, especially since there were an incredible number of different pronunciations in the respective regions.

Da Eabam isch a Pflånz, wås af de Pam, af de Maurn unt af de Knot(n) auf krålt, zun Toal iwa zech met(a) hoach, aa im Wålt afm potn ma nant.

[JoJo_Jost]

But how do we know that?  From documents written in "Bavarian"?  They may not reflect the spoken language at all.  See French...

Yes, you can tell from the written language. In the 19th century, many teachers wrote down their regional dialects and thus preserved them for posterity; that was a trend at the time. This alone allows us to recognise developments.

But of course, we don't have any sound recordings from the 15th century . However, since there were no complex spelling rules in the 14th/15th century, many words were written phonetically (not purely phonetically, but you can recognise – or guess – the different language variants).