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Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
- Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
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Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
UrexEregerRep > 14-06-2026, 10:45 PM
Disclosure: This analysis was conducted with the assistance of Claude (Anthropic AI) for data processing. All source data is taken directly from the Voynich Information Browser EVA transcriptions (Stolfi, Takahashi, Grove) and is independently verifiable.
Background
Zandbergen and Pelling have noted that zodiac nymph labels disproportionately start with EVA ‘ok’ or ‘ot’. What has not been systematically examined, to my knowledge, is whether this distribution varies between individual zodiac sections — and whether that variation forms clusters.
Method
I extracted all nymph labels (S1 and S2 units) from every surviving zodiac folio using EVA transcriptions from VIB. For each folio I identified the dominant opening prefix. No interpretation was applied — purely mechanical counting from raw transcription data.
Results by section:
Winter-spring cluster (dominant: ot-/ok-, y- absent or rare):
• f70v2 — Pisces — ot-/ok-
• f70v1+f71r — Double goat — ot-/ok-
• f71v+f72r1 — Double bull — ot-/op-/ch-
Summer-autumn cluster (dominant: ol-/or-/oe-, y- moderate):
• f72r2 — Couple/Gemini — ok-/ot-
• f72r3 — Two crabs — ol-/or-/y-
• f72v2 — Virgo — oe-/ok-
• f72v1 — Libra — ok-/oe-
• You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. — Lizard/Scorpio — ot-/ok-
Anomaly (y-/yk- dominant — very high frequency):
• You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. — Crossbowman/Sagittarius — yk-/y-
Three observable clusters:
Winter-spring block (Pisces, double goat, double bull): stable ot-/ok- dominance, y-/yk- absent or near-zero.
Summer-autumn block (two crabs, Virgo, Libra): shift toward ol-/or- and distinctive oe- prefix largely absent elsewhere.
Outlier — Crossbowman (f73v): dramatic spike in yk-/y- prefixes. Approximately half of all nymph labels begin with y- or yk-. This is the final section before the cut folio f74, after which the manuscript transitions to a completely different section (balneological). This position may be structurally significant.
Notes on zodiac imagery
The images do not always correspond to standard zodiac symbols. The central animal on f70v1 is described by Stolfi as “a beardless goat”, not a ram. The scorpion appears as a lizard, the lion as a one-fanged tiger. Both Taurus sections show an animal resembling an antelope. The twins are a man and woman holding hands. This suggests the author either followed a non-standard tradition or used familiar zodiac imagery as a framework for different content.
Extension to f68 astronomical folios
f68r1 (“Sun over Moon”, 29 stars) contains a mixed distribution of all prefix types identified in the zodiac, plus a unique oc-/och- cluster (6 of 29 stars: chocphy, cphocthy, ockhy, ocphy, octhey, odchecthy) absent from the zodiac section. This is consistent with f68r1 functioning as a general astronomical reference.
f68r3 (“The Pleiades”) contains the label dcholday featuring the root ‘chol’ which dominates the winter cluster. The Pleiades are in Taurus, which belongs to our winter-spring ot-/ok- cluster. This internal consistency is notable.
Open questions
1. Does the prefix variation reflect different scribal hands (Currier A/B) or semantic clustering by section?
2. What distinguishes the 6 oc-/och- stars on f68r1 visually or positionally?
3. Is the Crossbowman anomaly (yk-/y- spike) random or structural — a cycle-end marker?
4. If ol-/or- in the two-crabs section encodes Arabic “Al-” star name prefix (as Pelling suggested for ok-/ot-) — what does ol- encode differently from ot-?
Conclusion
Nymph labels in the zodiac section statistically differ between individual sections. Three prefix clusters are distinguishable. No decipherment claims are made. All observations are independently verifiable from VIB raw data.
Raw label data available on request. -
RE: Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
DG97EEB > Yesterday, 12:31 PM
This is indeed observable from the text. The question is why .. -
RE: Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
Ruby Novacna > Yesterday, 01:48 PM
(14-06-2026, 10:45 PM)UrexEregerRep Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.No interpretation was applied — purely mechanical counting from raw transcription data.
Hi UrexEregerRep !
You had absolutely no need to use Claude for your counting, in my opinion, especially knowing that it's prohibited on this forum. -
RE: Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
dashstofsk > Yesterday, 02:47 PM
(14-06-2026, 10:45 PM)UrexEregerRep Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.labels in the zodiac section statistically differ between individual sections
This sort of statistical anomaly occurs everywhere in the manuscript.
The distribution of many parameters ( top prefixes, top suffices, top character pairs, gallow words, frequencies of words that appear once in the quire, frequencies of long words, frequencies of words of two characters, frequencies of words that contain characters EVA-s, d, e, a, n, r ) are not uniform. Page-page differences are often many standard deviations away from what would be expected if the words, prefixes, suffices, characters etc. were distributed randomly.
I have tried to say something of this in a number of posts
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Those of us who like myself believe in the meaningless text / artificial construction / hoax hypothesis have a ready explanation for this and for your anomalous labels. The writer was not an automaton blindly following some set algorithm. Was not generating hoax text to any formal standard. At each sitting the writer approached the task with a fresh mindset. And so at each sitting there were variations. The style of the writing changed according to the temperament and inclination of the writer that day. Some days he just simply chose to use ol or. On other days ok ot. -
RE: Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
JoJo_Jost > Today, 04:51 AM
(Yesterday, 01:48 PM)Ruby Novacna Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Hi UrexEregerRep !
You had absolutely no need to use Claude for your counting, in my opinion, especially knowing that it's prohibited on this forum.
As far as I understand, it is prohibited to use Claude to generate solutions. However, it is not prohibited to use Claude and other AI systems for counting, statistical analysis, translation attempts, etc.
If that were prohibited, most of the topics here would become difficult—stolfi uses Gemini to translate Chinese, as do some others and I, Claude for statistical analysis, etc...
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RE: Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
Ruby Novacna > 11 hours ago
(Today, 04:51 AM)JoJo_Jost Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.If that were prohibited, most of the topics here would become difficult—stolfi uses Gemini to translate Chinese, as do some others and I, Claude for statistical analysis, etc...
I meant that to count the prefixes of some labels you don't need to use Claude or other Gemini. -
RE: Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
Koen G > 11 hours ago
In a couple of years we'll be complaining that the kids don't know how to use control-F anymore. -
RE: Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
JoeyB > 6 hours ago
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RE: Seasonal prefix clustering in Voynich zodiac nymph labels — a systematic observation
Aga Tentakulus > 2 hours ago
(11 hours ago)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.In a couple of years we'll be complaining that the kids don't know how to use control-F anymore.
Yeah, exactly.
It's just like with the first PCs, when people used to ask, “Where do you refill the Tipp-Ex on this thing?”