Origin of the 'Picnic Table' Glyph

[Dobri]

The x 'picnic table' glyph is similar to the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. 
Does this point to the possible inclusion of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in the cipher manuscript?

[R. Sale]

In astrology, it's a quincunx.

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[Dobri]

In astrology, it's a quincunx.

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It seems that the term You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. was introduced in astrology later in 1647 by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

[RadioFM]

JKP once pointed out it resembled a medieval Greek glyph, dont't have my notes with me atm but I'm pretty sure it was posted on this forum

[R. Sale]

I'm seeing Kepler dated 1604, as a 'formal introduction of the term'. Surely the word is similar to the Roman coinage (5/12) and applied to the zodiac relationship. What about the symbol? Did it exist under another name prior to Kepler? There's so much confusion with the five-dot pattern.

The 'fifth-house' relationship seems to be more significant in recent interpretations, but how much was it considered if we go back 600 years in historical time?

[Dobri]

According to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.:

"...Kepler adopted the original five Ptolemy had espoused, in additional to eight more. The aspect known as conjunction occurred when one planet obscured another along the circumference (0°), while that of opposition occurred when two planets were situated opposite one another (180°). The next aspect was that of quartile, produced when two planets marked off 90° along the arc of the circle. The final two aspects were known as trine and sextile, respectively formed by the displacement of two planets by 120° and 60°. Compelling evidence in the form of extensive weather observations had led Kepler to consider the eight additional aspects ranked in order of descending influence: Octile (45°), trioctile (135°), semisextile (30°), quincunx (150°), quintile (72°), tridecile (108°), biquintile(144°) and decile (36°). Each of these angular displacements corresponded to the measurement of a side of a constructible polygon inscribed in a circle. The potential influence of each configuration was a consequence of its geometrical properties as deduced by Kepler..."

Boner, P. J., Soul-searching with Kepler: an analysis of anima in his astrology, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 36(1), 7-20, 2005. Available: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

[R. Sale]

Kepler is clearly the author of record, but where does the symbol come from?

In the sign for the semisextile - somebody flipped over the "picnic table" upside down. Did Kepler invent both of these symbols? Post 1600?!

That would put a serious wrinkle in the VMs chronology.

Anybody seen a "picnic table" glyph with earlier dating??

[nablator]

Anybody seen a "picnic table" glyph with earlier dating??

Well, the OP of this thread is about the "picnic table" in the Phagspa script of the XIIIth – XIVth century, if you can believe that there is any link with the VMS.

There's also the cipher/code of Urbino (1440) where it stands for the letter Z. See Fig. 39 p.117 of Mary D'Imperio - The Voynich Manuscript: An Elegant Enigma.

[Bernd]

Why shouldn't the author have independently invented the picnic table symbol himself? It's not that complex. On You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in the 3rd word of the charm we see a ^ below the letter o.

[R. Sale]

IMHO, it's a coincidental similarity because they are not really the same symbol. When written properly, the Tibetan letter has "curved legs" intentionally turning outward. The quincunx legs are straight.

Also, there is the question of how the meaning of the symbol would have migrated from being a letter to a fraction used by Kepler? The terminology is Latin, but where does the "picnic table" glyph come from?

The real question is then, what is it doing in the VMs as a rare letter and as glyph #6 in the 4 x 17 symbol sequence?