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Voynich's anatomy
- Voynich's anatomy
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Voynich's anatomy
ololololo > Yesterday, 11:10 PM
I thought about it for a long time, and then decided to post it. I also don't know if this has ever been considered.
One of my assumptions about the manuscript was that the balneological section contained schematic drawings of human organs. This sounds logical for a medieval medical book.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any suitable 15th-century books for comparison, so we'll be comparing them directly with human organs.
Here are my identifications: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. - The long, stretching channel, as well as the patterns on top, made me think that we were looking at a pharynx. The small basin on the left side of the channel is shaped like a tongue, and if this is the case, then the mouth is depicted at the top.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. - The drawing on the left is difficult to identify, but the shape of the lake below is too much like a brain, which means that the top may depict the nasal cavity or the inner ear.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. - From the objects depicted here, I can say with greater certainty that there is at least a heart depicted. From this, the figure on top could be the upper vertebra or sternum. The lower figures could also be bones, but I assume they are something else. I cannot say what the person on the right is doing or what it means.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. - the intestine is accurately depicted here. What is drawn on top resembles the fallopian tubes. The nymph with two tubes may represent the pancreas (what is labeled as oleoedar resembles the pancreas in shape) or the clitoris (the fallopian tubes may hint at this).
f78r-f79r - The digestive system as a whole. On f78r, the upper figures, specifically the "caps", are very similar to the upper figure on f75r. If the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. figure on the top represents a mouth, then the tubes leading to the water bodies originate from the mouth. But as I see it, these illustrations depict not the organs (in this case, we would have two stomachs), but the process of digestion itself. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. - In my opinion, the two lakes connected at the sides represent the lungs. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. - perhaps the stomach is depicted here. This tank looks very similar to the f78v. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. - phallus and testicles.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. - the two small lakes look like kidneys.
You can see that the organs are mostly described from top to bottom, starting from the head (mouth, throat, brain) and ending with the groin (phallus, fallopian tubes). It is possible that the unidentified legs represent organs from the same levels, or they may represent arms or legs. Nymphs can also represent vitality (which explains why they fill cavities, for example). -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
Ruby Novacna > 11 hours ago
(Yesterday, 11:10 PM)ololololo Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I thought about it for a long time, and then decided to post it. I also don't know if this has ever been considered.
The first person to officially propose an anatomical interpretation of certain images was Joseph Martin Feely in 1943.
Since then, several researchers have made proposals, and some have been debated on this forum.
A quick search online would allow you to understand whether you are confirming or refuting the proposals of your predecessors. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
JoJo_Jost > 11 hours ago
@ Olololo Yes, I think that makes a lot of sense—I mean, almost all of your descriptions... That would also explain why it would be encrypted—since dissecting corpses was strictly forbidden... -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
Rafal > 10 hours ago
I have made a similar post once:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Unfortunately in the end of the day you cannot neither confirm it or deny it if you don't know what the text is about.
And if the text would be meaningless then these pictures will remain ambiguous forever. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
ololololo > 8 hours ago
(11 hours ago)Ruby Novacna Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Quick search online didn't help me, that's why I came here.(Yesterday, 11:10 PM)ololololo Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I thought about it for a long time, and then decided to post it. I also don't know if this has ever been considered.
The first person to officially propose an anatomical interpretation of certain images was Joseph Martin Feely in 1943.
Since then, several researchers have made proposals, and some have been debated on this forum.
A quick search online would allow you to understand whether you are confirming or refuting the proposals of your predecessors.
Yes, I've heard of Martin Joseph Fili, but initially, I got my anatomical hunch from Leonell Strong. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
eggyk > 8 hours ago
(11 hours ago)Ruby Novacna Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.A quick search online would allow you to understand whether you are confirming or refuting the proposals of your predecessors.
(10 hours ago)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I have made a similar post once:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
And in that thread Ruby also gave the exact same answer as in this one
if you know a quick google search gives the results, why not take the results from such a search and provide them to the forum and discuss them in the context of this post? Not everyone is able to search the entire debate around the VMS for the last 100 years for every topic, especially if their native language is not english. And obviously, the forum search requires you to guess the exact words used in previous threads, so eventually people only know about the threads because they remember reading them, not because they are searchable.
New researchers are almost certainly going to cover aleady covered ground with their ideas, because they have reasonable ideas. They shouldn't have to thouroughly cross check their ideas and do a differential analysis of their idea against the entire history of VMS discussion to talk about it. Unless the idea is something like "i think the VMS is about herbs".
As for those images representing body function, are there any examples of similar metaphors being used in any cultures? From what i've seen, body imagery in general tends to be quite literal. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
ololololo > 8 hours ago
(8 hours ago)eggyk Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Yes, some of the illustrations resemble organs (e.g., the heart, brain, and phallus).(11 hours ago)Ruby Novacna Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.A quick search online would allow you to understand whether you are confirming or refuting the proposals of your predecessors.
(10 hours ago)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I have made a similar post once:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
And in that thread Ruby also gave the exact same answer as in this one if you know a quick google search gives the results, why not take the results from such a search and provide them to the forum and discuss them in the context of this post? Not everyone is able to search the entire debate around the VMS for the last 100 years for every topic, especially if their native language is not english. And obviously, the forum search requires you to guess the exact words used in previous threads, so eventually people only know about the threads because they remember reading them, not because they are searchable.
New researchers are almost certainly going to cover aleady covered ground with their ideas, because they have reasonable ideas. They shouldn't have to thouroughly cross check their ideas and do a differential analysis of their idea against the entire history of VMS discussion to talk about it. Unless the idea is something like "i think the VMS is about herbs".
As for those images representing body function, are there any examples of similar metaphors being used in any cultures? From what i've seen, body imagery in general tends to be quite literal.
There is an anatomy book that also shows the organs in a blurred state - this is Mansur's Anatomy. It is not encrypted, and the illustrations are not suitable for comparison. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
Koen G > 7 hours ago
(8 hours ago)eggyk Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.As for those images representing body function, are there any examples of similar metaphors being used in any cultures? From what i've seen, body imagery in general tends to be quite literal.
Ideas about human organs being depicted in Q13 are rarely restrained by the chains of historical context. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
RobGea > 6 hours ago
Some References to anatomical MSS 12th to 15th century
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 13002 (from Prüfening Monastery, Bavaria, 1165)
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 17403 (from Scheyern Monastery, Bavaria, 1241)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 399 (England, compiled in 1298/9)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS e Museo 19 (Italy, late 13th century) - this example is not accompanied by the Historia incisionis
London, Wellcome Library, MS 49 (Germany, c. 1420)
Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 190/223 (dated to the late 12th century, England)
Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek, MS C.310 (Germany, c. 1320)
Milan, Trivulziana Library, MS 836 (Italy, early 14th century) - this example is not accompanied by the Historia incisionis
Nelahozeves Castle, Roudnice Lobkowicz Library, MS VI Fc 29 (Bohemian(?), c. 1390)
Trilingual compendium of texts (Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.1.1) fol.490v (brain diagram)
Harley MS658 fol.40r British library (brain diagram)
Miscellaneous medical texts. Bodleian Library MS. Canon. Misc. 366. fol.1v (eye diagram)
Refs obtained from this Oxford University site - Cabinet online platform - which will be decommissioned in 4 days (22nd June 2026)
get 'em while you can
cabinet.ox.ac.uk/corpus --> You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. -
RE: Voynich's anatomy
Ruby Novacna > 6 hours ago
(8 hours ago)eggyk Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Not everyone is able to search the entire debate around the VMS for the last 100 years for every topic, especially if their native language is not english.
You are absolutely right.
I use Google and I forget that some search engines don't provide as many results.