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Medieval Languages
Botis > 07-09-2016, 08:32 AM
So, a lot of people interested in the Voynich aren't necessarily medievalists, and as a result it sometimes falls that they are not familiar with medieval forms of languages. I am pointing this out because I see a lot of people coming up with ideas and then trying to apply them with modern languages, which probably wouldn't come out right even if one had discovered the correct solution.
While Shakespeare is often erroneously described as writing in "old English" the fact is that genuine Old English would be just about indecipherable to a modern reader (Hwaet we gardena in geardagum...) and the carbon dating of the Voynich puts it into the Middle English period, if we're to talk of English. Probably the most famous poet of the Middle English period was Geoffrey Chaucer, whose writing looked like this:
Compleyne ne koude, ne might myn herte never,
My peynes halve, ne what torment I have,
Though that I sholde in your presence ben ever,
Myn hertes lady, as wisly he me save
That Bountee made, and Beautee list to grave
In your persone, and bad hem bothe in-fere
Ever t'awayte, and ay be wher ye were.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., though I think the best book I've found about learning ME is You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
French also looked different historically and used different word endings. Here's an example from Christine de Pisan:
Doulce dame, vueilliez moy pardonner
Se demouré ay un pou longuement;
Car je n'ay peü plus tost retourner,
Dont me desplaist; car trop d'empeschement
M'est survenu, mais croiez fermement
Que vostre suis, ou soie près ou loings,
Le dieu d'amours m'en soit loial tesmoins.
Probably the best resource I've personally found for learning this type of French is You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. -- later than the Voynich but preserving more of the historical forms in a teachable way. There are also several sources about learning Old French, which is an earlier form than Middle French but which might have some useful things to know.
German had Middle Low German and Middle High German.
From Hans van Ghetelen (Low German):
De hane quam vor den konnynck stan
Vnde sach ene seer drofflyk an.
He hadde by syk twey hanen groet,
De drouych weren vmme dessen dot.
De eyne was gheheten Kreyant,
De beste hane, den men vant
Twysschen Hollant vnde Franckryk.
Here's Oswald von Wolkenstein (High German):
Die mynne füget nyemand
wer da nicht enhat
wann wo er hin gat
man spricht du wicht
we dir was wiltu mir
ge fiirhin drat
hast nicht so richt
dich balde von hynnen
dein mynnen
dir übel ane stat.
Unhappily I don't know much on where to learn these ones but maybe someone else can help.
Italian was even worse than German in having different dialects. Luckily there did come to be some preferred dialects just for the arts, but since we don't know what the Voynich really is it could be all kinds of weird local dialects if it were Italian. But for the same of giving an example, here's a poem by Michelangelo.
Come può esser, ch'io non sia più mio ?
O Dio, o Dio, o Dio!
Chi m'ha tolto a me stesso,
ch'a me fosse più presso
o più di me potessi, che poss'io?
O Dio, o Dio, o Dio!
Come mi passa el core
chi non par che mi tocchi?
Even Latin was done a little differently at that time, than the Classical Latin you tend to get taught if you take classes in it. Renaissance Latin is the name given for the kind of Latin that was being done in the 15th century. Here's some random Renaissance Latin by Aaron Petrus.
COPIOSE AC LVCVLENTER mi Aaron quae ad cantum planum pertinere uidebantur, hucusque executus es ut nihil abste omissum putem, quod siquis ignoret uitio dandum sit. Dii boni quam multa et quam praeclara sunt, quae priore libro complexus es. Ex quo quidem coniecturam facio qualia futura sint, et quam praeclara et cognitu digna, quae sequentur. Et quando finem cantui plano: et primo libro te fecisse hesterno die mihi significasti, tui memor promisisti alteram operis partem aggredere, Incredibile dictu est, quanto tenear audiendi reliqua desyderio. Vide quaeso, quinque diebus te dictante, me excipiente, ac interpraete quid sit effectum, et quae iacta sint fundamenta, immo quantum iam creuerit opus, ut si etiam partem hanc illius solam quis edat magnum quidem, ac non parua laude dignum efficisse purandus sit.
In medieval languages, spelling rules were generally very flexible, people wrote according to their own dialects, you sometimes find weird letters that don't exist anymore (Þ and ʒ in English are always springing to my mind.) The examples are just some random examples to give a gist of the kind of differences you'd see compared to the modern forms of these languages.
Knowing how to read them is probably going to be helpful to anyone trying to decipher the Voynich. Has anyone got some recommendations for helpful books or websites for learning medieval languages? -
RE: Medieval Languages
Koen G > 07-09-2016, 09:16 AM
While what you say is true and should be taken into account, I don't think there is much use at the moment in studying all kinds of different medieval dialects. We simply don't know enough yet about what kind of language(s) it could be. Professor Bax himself believes the language to be non-Indo-European, and others on his site are exploring the possibility of an Indic language.
The approach I usually take is one where modern languages can be handy. I try to determine which larger language family the word (root) belongs to.
Say that I tentatively read a label as "kolt". Modern languages teach me that I could be dealing with some Germanic word form. English cold, Dutch koud, German kalt.
This opposed to froid, frio, freddo, frigidum in Latin(ate) languages. And ṭhaṇḍuṁ, ṭhaṇḍā, ṭhaṃḍā in some Indic languages.
Of course, when a possible language family is found, the older forms have to be checked. When the parent language is known (like Latin), this makes the process a lot easier since more modern aspects can be distinguished. In many Indo-European languages, the gradual erosion of case endings is one example. -
RE: Medieval Languages
Davidsch > 07-09-2016, 01:05 PM
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RE: Medieval Languages
Diane > 07-09-2016, 05:11 PM
Koen,
or it could be "colt" in modern spelling, or "called" or ... something from the Gaels.
