• Options
• Login
• Desktop Style

Month names collection / metastudy

• Index

  • The Voynich Ninja
  • Voynich Research
  • Marginalia
  • Month names collection / metastudy
• Month names collection / metastudy

• RE: Month names collection / metastudy

  DG97EEB > 04-09-2026, 01:27 PM

  (04-09-2026, 01:25 PM)eggyk Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

  (04-09-2026, 11:21 AM)DG97EEB Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I've found an Aberil... But it's 18th century.... On the other hand, when you start pulling the threads, it gets interesting...

  
  Fascinating, almost every single april variant is in there. Abrell(en) abrill(en), aprill(en), aprellen, aberel(len), and aberill. Even aperil and aperel. What exactly is this sourcing from?

  
  GPT/Exa found it.. 
  
  "This specific ledger details the administrative and agricultural accounts for the Alpine cooperative in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The years you mentioned (1717, 1719, and 1721) represent crucial chronological logging periods within this volume: [1The Book (Alpbuch I): It originally contained 222 sheets detailing cattle drive rights, milk measurement records, and financial balances for the alpine pastures (specifically the Pradamee region"

• RE: Month names collection / metastudy

  eggyk > 04-09-2026, 02:22 PM

  (04-09-2026, 01:27 PM)DG97EEB Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.GPT/Exa found it.. 
  
  "This specific ledger details the administrative and agricultural accounts for the Alpine cooperative in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The years you mentioned (1717, 1719, and 1721) represent crucial chronological logging periods within this volume: [1The Book (Alpbuch I): It originally contained 222 sheets detailing cattle drive rights, milk measurement records, and financial balances for the alpine pastures (specifically the Pradamee region"

  
  What I mean is who exactly wrote the words that were transcribed? If these were the writings of various farmers, it effectively demonstrates that a huge amount of these april variants continued to be effectively used by the uneducated (or less educated?) population all the way into the 18th century, even though official or well learned people largely standardised their spelling by the 1600s.

• RE: Month names collection / metastudy

  DG97EEB > 04-09-2026, 03:10 PM

  From Gemini (which I wouldn't normally trust to tell me the time but this seems plausible)
  
  "The ledgers were maintained by the Alpvogt (plural: Alpvögte), the elected administrative heads of the alpine cooperative.These governors were local, respected figures chosen from among the Alpgenossen (the cooperative members). They were literate, fluent in basic arithmetic, and trained in regional accounting practices 
  
  Because these men were working cattlemen, cooperative stakeholders, and local officials rolled into one, their writing reveals a unique duality:
  
  The Clerk Element: They understood the formal administrative structure of the Holy Roman Empire and the local princely chancellery. They knew how to format a debt ledger, calculate milk measurements, and structure a legal contract.
  
  The Farmer Element: When they sat down to write, they were physically sitting in the mountains or local village rooms. They were not bound by the strict spelling rules of a distant imperial court. Instead, they wrote phonetically, exactly how they spoke. This is precisely why a word like "Aberil" ends up in the official Vaduz ledger. A high-level chancellery clerk in Vienna or Zurich would write the standardized April. But a local Vaduz Alpvogt, thinking and speaking in his native High Alemannic dialect, wrote down the month exactly how it sounded when the local farmers discussed when the mountain passes would clear for the spring cattle drive"
  
  Humbly yours,
  
  Edward meat proxy...

• RE: Month names collection / metastudy

  eggyk > 04-09-2026, 03:45 PM

  Okay, interesting. The alpbuch 1 (1641-1732) actually has 37 instances of aberil(len) as well, so quite a bit more common further back. 
  
  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
  
  In fact, aberil seems to be the 2nd most common, behind aberel! My crtl+f gives me: 
  
  56 aberel, 37 aberil, 18 abrel, 4 april, 3 abril, 2 aprel, 1 aperel
  
  If such types of ledgers exist further back into the 16th century, it could be a really worthwhile avenue to search.
• Next Oldest Next Newest