A-Voynich Transcription - A glyph-based transcription

A-Voynich Transcription A glyph-based transcription of the Voynich Manuscript

Contents Overview

page 1

Some Transcription History

page 2

Glyph Construction Theory

page 5

A-Voynich Font Equivalents

page 8

Sample Transcription Pages

page 12

Overview

The A-Voynich Transcription is a product of many years and testing of many different theories on character identification. While this is a project I would have liked to have taken on and mastered many years ago, it has been only recently that quality images of the Voynich script have been released by Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale. When these images are compared against the black and white copyflo, it becomes evident that much information has been kept from the hands of Voynich enthusiasts over the years. The new images confirm that many ‘strokes’ are routinely connected, and if written in a fluid and connected fashion must most probably be individual glyphs. While my transcriptions have always maintained that certain strokes comprise individual glyphs, my own methods are in need of revision, and in the process perhaps this effort will bring others to the realization that stroke-based transcriptions are very unlikely to lead to a solution of the Voynich Manuscript. Any reasonable transcription methodology should be based on a fairly sound glyph construction theory and incorporate enough information about the characters to make alteration of the transcription a simple matter, without the need to retranscribe large sections of the text. It is with this in mind that this transcription is undertaken, and it is my hope that this effort proves to be beneficial to all Voynich enthusiasts.

Some Transcription History “However complex and interesting the drawings are, the script in which the bulk of the manuscript is written is undoubtedly the most intriguing part of the elegant enigma. It has a deceptively flowing, rhythmic quality that suggests long practice and familiarity on the part of the scribe or scribes. The script seems like a reasonable, workable, well-constructed system of writing, with a look of ease and natural flow. On closer inspection, the surface appearance of simplicity vanishes, and a still more seductive and captivating character emerges, in the form of an intricate but structurally logical system of ligaturing or compounding of simple forms to build up more complex outlines. Whatever else may be alleged concerning the value of the manuscript as a whole to science, I am convinced that an understanding of the construction of this writing system cannot fail to be of great interest in the study of human thought. It appears to be a tour de force of artistry and ingenuity.” M.E. D’Imperio Thus begins Chapter 4 in M.E. D’Imperio’s paper “The Voynich Manuscript – An Elegant Enigma”, a statement that rings in the ears of all Voynichologists. Rather than rewrite the general makeup of early attempts, I quote here D’Imperio’s synopsis taken again from Chapter 4: “It has been concluded by most students that the Voynich script includes at least some compound symbols. Various attempts have been made to arrive at a rationale to explain the ligatures and resolve them consistently into component elements. Some students have proposed that the symbols may have been built up from elementary strokes in a manner similar to the method upon which they supposed that the Chinese writing system was based. Tiltman suggested that missionaries visiting the Far East, who had studied the Chinese system, might have brought back a description of it which then might have inspired some fifteenth- or sixteenth- century scholar to design the Voynich script (unpublished notes). A. W. Exell, in his letter to Tiltman, 30 August 1957, refers to a theory (not further specified) that

early Arabic numerals were built up from one, two, three, four or more strokes in a similar Oriental manner; he suggests a sketchy and incomplete correspondence between Voynich symbols and conventional numerals along these lines.” The earliest modern attempt at decipherment was by William R. Newbold, who identified the Voynich script as a “shorthand cipher”, based on an ancient Greek system of abbreviation. His system of transcription involved the use of a magnifying glass and the dissection of each Voynich glyph into several strokes. While Newbold’s methods were publicly refuted, the appeal of stroke-based transcriptions has not diminished. Other early transcriptions included those of Tiltman, the First Voynich Study Group, the Second Study Group, Currier, Krischer, and D’Imperio. While these tended to universally handle certain Voynich glyphs as individual characters, such as the gallows i, h, g and f, or the glyphs a, e, o, and w, there was a decided split of opinion when it came to some other common glyphs, primarily the ' series glyphs. Currier transcribed the strokes 'N and ''N as 'M’ and ‘N’ respectively, while others chose to transcribe them as a series of glyphs. The Second Study Group and the Currier transcriptions are unique in assigning single transcription characters to the more common Voynich combination glyphs. D’Imperio considered the various transcription approaches to embody the theories of individual transcribers, and I believe this is a fair assumption. Somewhere in the 1990’s a new transcription methodology popped up, called ‘Frogguy’ and ‘Neo-Frogguy’, the work of Jacques Guy, a linguist extraordinaire. The apparent purpose of this transcription was to make the Voynich characters ‘pronounceable’. This transcription was heavily stroke-based in orientation, and a clear departure from the transcriptions generated in the cryptographic arena. Frogguy was used as the basis for a complete Voynich transcription project conducted by Gabriel Landini and Rene Zandbergen, entitled the EVA transcription. What sets the EVA transcription apart from cryptographically oriented transcriptions is the use of multiple characters to represent the strokes that compose a single Voynich glyph. Where Currier transcribed a G with a single character, and The First Study Group transcribed it with two, (a combination of g and w), EVA transcribes it with three characters, meant to represent c, g, and Z. While I prefer Currier’s representation of the G as a single glyph, there is logic in the First Study Group’s combination of g and w, since both are very common glyphs in their own right. Occurrences of Z as a single glyph are very rare indeed, and no other transcription divided the extremely common glyph w into two parts, c and Z as they occur in the EVA transcription. EVA also transcribes the very common W glyph as a combination of 2 and Z, when in fact 2 is a standalone glyph that has little to do with the construction of W in this sense. The Voynich combined form X does exist, as does the form x, but these differences are ignored in the EVA transcription. This transcription seeks to encode these differences in common Voynich glyphs.

Voynich Glyph Construction Theory . . . . . ”It is my feeling that we need not look beyond the system of Latin abbreviations, familiar to all learned men of the Middle Ages and Renaissance throughout Europe, combined with early forms of Arabic numerals and some common alchemical and astrological symbols, to find the inspiration for the design of the Voynich script.” M.E. D’Imperio

I couldn’t agree more with any statement made by any other Voynichologist, but the fact remains that esoteric theories of glyph origination and construction still abound. Tiltman’s ‘Chinese Theory’ is still out there, and the belief that the Voynich is a representation of some unknown language is very much alive and well. I hold to the opinion that the Voynich is a manufactured script, hiding some underlying cryptographic system. Those who view the Voynich from this position have little difficulty comparing this script to known stenographic systems and artificial cryptographic alphabets. The alphabets outlined in Trithemius, Agrippa, Vigenere and Porta have common elements, namely the fact that they are a set of symbols that are variations of a base set of glyphs. An alphabet tableau from Porta’s ‘De Furtivus Literarum Notis Vulgo. De Ziferis’, reproduced on the following page, provides a visual example of the human tendency to create glyph variations based on singular forms. The Voynich script is in my estimation not very different in construction from the artificial alphabets found in these books, with the exception that it appears to be more tachygraphically based than any known artificial alphabet. It would be nice to be able to break down the construction of the Voynich glyphs into three sets, simple, compound and combination, but the line is not always clear on which is which. Since the actual intention of the author may not be entirely clear, this theory should be considered but one attempt at drawing the lines of definition, and as with any beginning theory, the room for improvement is a very large room indeed!

(A page from Porta’s “De Furtivus Literarum Notis Vulgo”.)

Simple Strokes A mere two strokes appear to form the basis for the majority of Voynich glyphs, these being the c and the ' strokes. Since these two also stand individually, they are to be considered simple glyphs and not just strokes. The c glyph stands at the base of other glyphs, those being a, e, o, 8, 9 and 2. The ' glyph stands at the base of only two glyphs, the N and the s. All but the 8 are formed by adding a simple stroke. The 8 adds a loop, or perhaps it is a combination of glyphs, the c and the e. One other glyph appears to be used to form the ‘gallows’ characters, this being the 4 glyph with a loop attached. There are two basic forms of the gallows glyphs, the i and the g. These forms are modified on the left side to create the h and f glyphs. Compound glyphs From the two simple glyphs c and ' come the compound set a, e, o, 2, 8, 9, N, and s, to which may be added the w glyph, the only standard compound glyph in this set containing three strokes instead of two. The 4 glyph generates the standard set 4, i , h, g and f. There is some discussion whether the string 4o isn't a single glyph comprised of a combination of the 4 and the o. While it does appear almost exclusively at the beginning of a word, its occurrence doesn’t appear to be any higher than that of the strings 89 or oe. Transcribing the string 4o as two characters does allow for a global change to a single character if necessary, which allows for alternate readings of this set of glyphs. Variations A wide range of variations exist for most compound glyphs, and sometimes those variations appear to be dependent on where the glyph is located within the Voynich word or line. It has been noted for instance, that the g and f glyphs appear a very high percentage of the time in the first line of a paragraph, but very rarely in the body. One is tempted to conclude that these are variant forms of the i and h glyphs. The simple glyph ' when located in the middle of a word appears as a ', but at the end of a word appears with a tail, thus N. This tail at the end of words may be an artistic embellishment having little or nothing to do with the meaning of the glyph itself. Cases in point would be the combination sets c, C, and D. When D ends a word, it almost always has a tail, d. The same is true of the combination sets ', u, and U found in the middle of words. One is tempted to conclude that these are no different than the N, n, and

m glyphs found at the end of words. an 8 in the middle of a word many times appears as an * at the end, and there are probably a few more examples I’ve omitted. Combinations From many of the standard glyphs come sets of combination glyphs. c generates C, D, and d. c combinations also include characters such as @. ' generates u, U, n, m, and N, and when combined with the s glyph generates S and t. Another similar series is generated with the * glyph. When the ' is added, we get glyphs such as p and P. The w glyph has a set of combination glyphs all its own. This glyph gives us the variations W, x X Y y and also z and Z. (There is one occurrence on folio 1v of the glyph ¡.) When combined with the gallows glyphs we get I, H, G and F. As is to be expected in a handwritten and laboriously composed document, many minor variations of these standard glyphs are present in the Voynich. Some wierdos are probably errors or corrections, and others may indeed have altered meaning. As D’Imperio suggested, this transcription differs little from others in that it embodies the above theory of construction, but steps have been taken to encode enough information to allow for easy global changes in the event another Voynichologist wishes to test another approach.

What follows are the current assignments for the A-Voynich Transcription, which, while incomplete at this point, demonstrates the current methods of transcription, and invites others to offer criticism designed to improve on this model.

A-Voynich Glyph Set Chr Code Name ! 33 Exclamation

A-V Chr Code Name = 61 Equals 

A-V 

“

34

Double quote



>

62

Greater than



#

35

Hash



?

63

Question mark

?

$

36

Dollar



@

64

At sign

%

37

Percent



A

65

A



&

38

Ampersand



B

66

B



‘

39

Apostrophe



C

67

C

C

(

40

Open bracket



D

68

D

D

)

41

Close bracket



E

69

E



*

42

Asterisk

*

F

70

F

F

+

43

Plus sign



G

71

G

G

,

44

Comma



H

72

H

H

-

45

Minus sign



I

73

I

I

.

46

Period



J

74

J

J

/

47

Forward slash



K

75

K



0

48

Digit 0



L

76

L



1

49

Digit 1



M

77

M

M

2

50

Digit 2

2

N

78

N

N

3

51

Digit 3



O

79

O



4

52

Digit 4

4

P

80

P

P

5

53

Digit 5



Q

81

Q



6

54

Digit 6



R

82

R



7

55

Digit 7



S

83

S

S

8

56

Digit 8

8

T

84

T



9

57

Digit 9

9

U

85

U

U

:

58

Colon



V

86

V



;

59

Semicolon



W

87

W

W

<

60

Less than



X

88

X

X

@

Y

89

Y

Y

l

108

l



Z

90

Z

Z

m

109

m

m

[

91

Open square bracket



n

110

n

n

\

92

Backslash



o

111

o

o

]

93

Close square bracket



p

112

p

p

^

94

Caret



q

113

q



_

95

Underscore



r

114

r



`

96

Grave accent



s

115

s

s

a

97

a

a

t

116

t

t

b

98

b



u

117

u

u

c

99

c

c

v

118

v



d

100

d

d

w

119

w

w

e

101

e

e

x

120

x

x

f

102

f

f

y

121

y

y

g

103

g

g

z

122

z

z

h

104

h

h

{

123

Left brace



i

105

i

i

|

124

Vertical bar



j

106

j

j

}

125

Right brace



k

107

k



~

126

Tilde



A-Voynich Supplemental Glyph Set Chr Code

Name

A-V

Location Chr Code Name [folio/line] One quarter f1v/9 ¼ 188

A-V

¡

161

Inverted exclamation

¡

¢

162

Cent sign

¢ f11r/5

½

189

One half



£

163

Pound sign

£

f1v/7

¾

190

Three quarters



¤

164

Currency sign

¤

f1v/10

¿

191

Inverted question mark



¥

165

Yen sign

¥

f15v/2

À

192

A grave



¦

166

Broken bar

¦

f33v/8

Á

193

A acute



§

167

Section sign

§

f42v/2

Â

194

A circumflex



¨

168

Umlaut or diaeresis

¨ f42v/14

Ã

195

A tilde



©

169

Copyright sign



Ä

196

A umlaut



ª

170

Feminine ordinal



Å

197

A ring



«

171

Left angle quotes



Æ

198

AE ligature



¬

172

Logical not sign



Ç

199

C cedilla



-

173

Soft hyphen



È

200

E grave



®

174

Registered trademark



É

201

E acute



¯

175

Spacing macron



Ê

202

E circumflex



°

176

Degree sign



Ë

203

E umlaut



±

177

Plus-minus sign



Ì

204

I grave



²

178

Superscript 2



Í

205

I acute



³

179

Superscript 3



Î

206

I circumflex



´

180

Spacing acute



Ï

207

I umlaut



µ

181

Micro sign



Ð

208

ETH



¶

182

Paragraph sign



Ñ

209

N tilde



·

183

Middle dot



Ò

210

O grave



¸

184

Spacing cedilla



Ó

211

O acute



¹

185

Superscript 1



Ô

212

O circumflex



º

186

Masculine ordinal



Õ

213

O tilde



»

187

Right angle quotes



Ö

214

O umlaut





×

215

Multiplication sign



ì

236

i grave



Ø

216

O slash



í

237

i acute



Ù

217

U grave



î

238

i circumflex



Ú

218

U acute



ï

239

i umlaut



Û

219

U circumflex



ð

240

eth



Ü

220

U umlaut



ñ

241

n tilde



Ý

221

Y acute



ò

242

o grave



Þ

222

THORN



ó

243

o acute



ß

223

sharp s



ô

244

o circumflex



à

224

a grave



õ

245

o tilde



á

225

a acute



ö

246

o umlaut



â

226

a circumflex



÷

247

division sign



ã

227

a tilde



ø

248

o slash



ä

228

a umlaut



ù

249

u grave



å

229

a ring



ú

250

u acute



æ

230

ae ligature



û

251

u circumflex



ç

231

c cedilla



ü

252

u umlaut



è

232

e grave



ý

253

y acute



é

233

e acute



þ

254

thorn



ê

234

e circumflex



ÿ

255

y umlaut



ë

235

e umlaut



Folio 1v

hw29 wo8am oe oeiwc9 was Fas ap

9icc9 was os ow9 8wo eho89 oho8as wo89

8o H9 Ho H9 x9 8hyC9 I9 hoiwo89 8ae

8oe wohco 8aS 8ap 2owc9 wo ho89

goio9 Woe 8aS Goae 8as wc9 io89 oioam Woy9

woh9 woe Ioe Woe ohae 8oewc9 wo8o eoe w9 I9

4o oe wo'@ wcoe 8oe Ic9 9hoe 8oe 8oeo 9hoe 8oewo89

ohoeWoe hoe hcw9 woe h9 woe Ioe wo89 woe 8am

Wos ohoe woe 8oeh9 8as Woe 8wos oiwo 8as ¡o89

Ioos woiwc9 8ae wo89 2wo89 goe wo8as Line 7 - 4o with a line over it may also be represented by code 163, £ . Line 9 – The character, code 164, ¡ appears to be unique. Line 10 - While this g is probably a normal character, an alternate representation would be code 164, ¤.

Folio 2v

hoom wcogwos oiamo8an wos 8aS Wi9 hwohw9 Wo Woe 4oiWo eoD2 4oi9 wos 8am oiwo wos ey9 woe wo89 wo8an wI9 8am Wo woeo wcos wo8am

Folio 4v gwoom hyco hwo9 wogw9 8oe82 8eo8 oe wc9 w9 I9 xhwos Wco wcos9 woe89 Wo Wo wam Wam 8am 4o8am oasap

4ohw9 4oI9 woicoe 8am Ic9 woam

Wo s WC9 j oiom yc9 4oiwom wo8an

9iwo9 yohw9 Go89

iosw9 Wccos wos Wohw9 G989 oed wos Ioe Wo oios Ios9

4ooho Mw'o* wI9 Woh9 8am

oiam yco ohco89 woe wohco89 Wo hwcos Wo89 Wiam 4oioe 8am 4oh?9 Wo oicoe 2 hC9 Was was o89 yo89 2 wcos woho89 xo8am 4oi9 owo89 w9hc9 wio89

Folio 7v

goe9W9 Wc9 iwo89 4ogw9 oiWoe 898am iwo8o89

wow9 I9 8am 4oh9 wGZ9 8am Ioe I9 I8

4ohw9 89hw9 whC9 hy9 h9 i9 8os wcc9 oe wcoe89 woi'd oCas wo2w9 8an yo hW9 Woe 8Cc2 8oe 8wo8am 4oiw9 wC9 iwC9

hwos Wco8 Wco8am Wo8am ohWoeWoe 8aS 4o2 ohWo8DN wosw'os o8am woiw 8oe 8os am 4oiCco swowCo89 4oiwc9 ico ohwos 8am wo hcco 8at woiw9 8os 8coe 89 8oe8am

Folio 10v

gam 8am Wco gwC9 4oi9 8am Ios oi989 2an 8an 8am H9 wIos wom 4oi wo8am I9 8am 8Wo 9ic9 hwoe oei9 woe 89

4oiw9ios Wom 8am 4oiwc9 Wciw9 9ios 8an Wo9hC9 8am 4oiw9 4oios woe 8am 4ohw9 h9 Wom wos WI9 4oi9 4oiom 4ohoe wosam 4ohoe w9h9 woewch9 8am 8an wHaN

Folio 11r

iWoe 2woae F9 Wf98am G9 yc9 iwo89 yo9i9 2oIo89 4o8os9 iW9 8am 9iw9 9iw?h9 hwoe 8am 4oi9 woe I9 8os 9h9w9 woi9 8an wam 8am 8o8 8woe w9 hw9 89 8am

iwoe wos Wos 8h9 ¢9 8am I9 89 wo8e 8am

o8e 829 oioe wam 9hwos 8aS wo89 I9 2 8am 4oiw9 ohwoe I9 89

Folio 11v

goe8wo89 WG9 Wos89 4oi9 Woe Gas 8aN 9 Woe 89 wH9 WI9 8am 8ap 9hw9 8an 8w9 oiwos 89 hw9 iw9 8as 4ohw8 oh9 woe89 89 4ohwos woeoeos w9h9 8w9 4oh9 Io iwc9 ia 2o989 4oiC9 4oi wos 89 889 Ios W9 asp owcos hWo 8os Ic9 2 woe8

Folio 15v

gosos osW9 wom 8iwaN ogwos89

¥wos os oso s am I9 ian 8as

Ios 8am 4ohos ohcos oham

8om woh9 Woe4oh9 4oiwo8

oiwos wos wos 9iwos I9 2

4oiwc9 woi9 ham oiw9 s am

zo9 wot yo 2 w9 2 w9 ios oe2

9iwos wos oe om oi9 yoe 8am

oiwoeoIoe woe woe wo89 haN

2os wos Iom I9 4oham

2oe om wcos woe 8am I9

8am Ios woe wos

Folio 16r

gowco89 4ogwc9 29ham ogw98os 9w9 8am 89 wos osop

9w9hw9 oie9 hoe Xos o89 oio89 4o9 oC2os89 98os Wcae ohw9 4o9hom woh9 9haS 8ano8 9wcaeo8

iwos wos w2 9hw WoI9 ogw9 i9h9 oWam 89h9 oCc2 8Do8 am 8ioam 8am 8aew9 89h9 2 w9 2 am 8oae 4oh9 Woiw9 98an 9h9 Wo89 oioe 8am 2am 9iam

iosos 8ae98ae ogw9 fwoe 9gwoJ9 ohae 2ohw9 4ohoe woi9 ohw9 I9 w9 hw9

89wohw9 WI9 Wiy9 Wo iwoh98 4ohwos 8e 89 yc9

Folio 33v

iasas8am 98an Ic9 8oe2 Wch9 osam x hw89 8ap 89 oh9 oiae 8an w?9 9iap oiap wap 8as wH9 89 89h9 H89 oh9 8ap ohas89 hop89

iohas W89 8ae 4ohos W8 oio89 wc89 9hc89 8o8e 8om iw89 wo89 oham wH9 8os ase I9 89i989 9has wch9 89

9w2o 8as oeam ohas w89 w89 oe89 ohas w89

iW89 Wcfw89 WH89 oeic89 8am oh9 wcoe osan w89W89 gosas

8as as WC9 hC89 ohw9 ohas ohc89 w9 8am 8¦89 8as am ohas9

2as osam wos os WhaS Woe os wH9 asam ohan 8ae89

ewoas os wc9 eo8am o os ohcc89 ohae9

ias ae hC9 osap

Folio 42v

iwoj Wcc9 4owo iam Woe2 woe wos 8an

8Wc9 iwc9 9 hwc9 wiw9 §9 8aN 8an oioe 8am yo woio89 woioe oh9 woe woe 8ewI9 oio9

4oiw9 whw9 2as 89 o8aue 9hw9 ohoe8* wohcco s wc9 wciaN 2 as9 ohoe wciam

ohcohcos wcoiwas 29 2am Ias8ap woh Wco hc9 hD9 8 wchcc2W9

2o8ae 2am

goWcos Wo was wchwc9 4oho8 yo Gco sw9

2wos ohwc9 w9 yoe oeos wcam ziw9 iwd 8 4o am 4ohcc9 hwoe wcae oicoe8 Wc9 icam 8 woiwcc9 woe oe wam oiccam whw9 iam 9 yo wc9 icos Wc9 wcIc9 8am wohcc9 8am 4oiC9 w9 hw9 I9 ¨C2 woe9 2asas an ae

wohc9 woe ohc9 ohos o8cc9