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Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

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• Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  emanuele.pegorin > 11-02-2026, 07:30 AM

  On folio You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. I would like to point out something purely structural.
  
  The page almost looks like a kind of cipher key or reference diagram showing the characters used in the manuscript.
  
  If one takes the short labels associated with the three human figures in the inner circle and mentally extends those lines outward, they effectively divide the circular diagram into four sectors.
  
  Each sector appears to contain the same sequence of characters (or alphabet set), with perhaps one or two additional symbols.
  
  What strikes me is the repetition: the character set seems consistent across all four sections.
  
  I am not proposing a definitive solution, only noting that the layout appears systematic rather than decorative.
  
  I am attaching an image to illustrate what I mean.
  
  
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• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  Rafal > 11-02-2026, 03:17 PM

  I will add one more comment about nuns and their artwork  
  
  It is highly subjective but Voynich artwork feels to me like made by a male and not a female. 
  There were female artists in the Medieval Ages but I can't imagine a woman drawing so bad images of another women.
  
  Female medieval artists seem to me more "tidy". There is also often also some sweetness and "cuteness" similar to Japanese "kawaii" ( You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. )
  in their art which Voynich totally misses.
  
  See for example:
  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
  

• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  emanuele.pegorin > 11-02-2026, 03:36 PM

  Dear Rafal,
  
  You are absolutely right in what you say, and I understand your point.
  
  However, I have formed a different idea about the nature of this manuscript. I do not think it was created as an artwork meant to be displayed on a wall or admired for aesthetic refinement. Instead, I believe it was produced for internal use within a monastery.
  
  To me, it feels more like a practical working document — almost like a photographer who captures images during the workday, not for artistic exhibition, but to document processes and preserve knowledge for herself and for others. In this case, the “images” would function as visual records of daily work: plants, preparation processes, containers, and even ritual bathing at the end of the working day.
  
  In my view, it reads more like a working diary or a practical “how-to” manual, entirely focused on labor and everything connected to it. The end of the working day could have included purification baths; the plants were cultivated and processed; the jars (or cups) had specific functions.
  
  I found one cup that was not painted over, and it still seems to show its codes — one central marking and another below. Most of the other containers were colored later, possibly covering something. As someone here already suggested, the colors may have been applied afterwards. My impression is that in some cases they may even have obscured earlier markings.
  
  On that specific cup, however, the markings remain visible, and I am trying to understand what they could indicate. I see what I interpret as instructions — I call them “recipes” — possibly listing which plants were to be placed in which container.
  
  So for me, this manuscript is not primarily an artistic expression. It is a structured description of work: a visual system to help manage daily tasks, knowledge transmission, and organization within that community — perhaps also for new arrivals who needed to learn the processes.
  
  That is simply how I am currently reading it.
  
  
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• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  pjburkshire > 11-02-2026, 04:01 PM

  I have been a female my entire life.  I have been a gardener for almost my entire life.  My mother was also a gardener and like many gardeners, I learned at my mother's side when I was a small child.
  
  I can tell you with 100% certainty that we never ever ever (note the double word use, very Voynich) gardened in the nude.  Aside from social custom, there are the practical considerations; sunburn, ticks, mosquitoes, thorns!!  Ouch!
  
  That's not to say that there couldn't have been a females-only (mostly) nudist colony in the 15th century.  But to quote Carl Sagan, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
  
  You have presented zero evidence that such a nudist colony ever existed.

• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  emanuele.pegorin > 11-02-2026, 04:10 PM

  Dear pjburkshire,
  
  My humble view and conclusions lead me to believe that the “photographer,” the one documenting the working life in this manuscript, depicted the women in the basins where they performed ritual washings and post-work cleanings. They are also shown nude in the circles of duties, but I interpret this as a way to represent equality among the women. There are no other depictions of them nude while performing their daily tasks outside of these contexts. Therefore, in my opinion, this is not at all what you are suggesting.

• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  pjburkshire > 11-02-2026, 04:27 PM

  This whole bathing thing has been one of the two major stumbling blocks for understanding the illustrations for 100 years.
  
  The nymphs are not women.  They are not bathing.  The nymphs are symbolic.  It's called anthropomorphism.  Anthropomorphism is giving human traits, feelings, or actions to non-human things like animals, objects, or nature.
  
  People are being too literal.  Can't see the forest for the trees.

• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  pjburkshire > 11-02-2026, 05:05 PM

  (11-02-2026, 07:30 AM)emanuele.pegorin Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
  On folio You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. I would like to point out something purely structural.
  
  The page almost looks like a kind of cipher key or reference diagram showing the characters used in the manuscript.
  

  
  
  This may be one thing that you and I agree on.  I think page You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. was an attempt to explain the new alphabet that they created.

• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  JoJo_Jost > 11-02-2026, 05:10 PM

  There exist old Threads: 
  
  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  emanuele.pegorin > 11-02-2026, 08:01 PM

  Hi pjburkahire,
  
  Thanks for your comment. I don’t see any forest or trees in these illustrations. As I mentioned earlier, there are basins where the women enter, as seen in the first images—they are clearly bathing. Other images show people of higher rank controlling the water flow, and in yet another image, it’s clear that they are enjoying themselves. So, I don’t see a forest or trees here.
  
  Regarding folio F57v, I wasn’t aware there was already a thread discussing this page. Yes, it could represent a new, very reduced alphabet. Within it, there are symbols that act as markers, sentence starters, or ornamental signs, as you said. Some symbols, like that M-shape or a small circle resembling an O, or others that look like numbers, may be misleading, because the Voynich manuscript immediately confuses the reader. Symbols and allegories appear that our minds try to associate with familiar human figures, like women or men—but I think these are strictly symbolic.
  
  This, I believe, is what leads many people off track when trying to interpret the Voynich manuscript.

• RE: Observations on the Visual and Functional Structure of the Voynich Manuscript

  emanuele.pegorin > 11-02-2026, 08:09 PM

  I am starting to wonder whether the text is not descriptive at all.
  What if it functions as a referencing system rather than narrative language?
  
  The only place where we clearly see a written label directly attached to a specific object is the cup on f102v, where a word appears above and a number below.
  
  If that is a functional code, then perhaps many of the repeated “words” throughout the manuscript are not sentences, but internal markers referring to destination, usage, category, or preparation context.
  
  In that case, the manuscript would not be meant to be “read” in a linguistic sense, but navigated operationally.
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