About a month ago reader nolandda reported in a comment here that progress had been made in deciphering the famous Voynich manuscript. This week a more detailed report was issued by the University of Bedfordshire:
Some published reports overstate the significance of the news by referring to this as a decipherment of the document. It would be more accurate (and a bit more prosaic) to indicate (as Professor Bax does) that what has been proved is that the ms. is internally cohesive and consistent with a true language, and not simply a nonsensical folly or hoax.An award-winning professor from the University has followed in the footsteps of Indiana Jones by cracking the code of a 600 year old manuscript, deemed as ‘the most mysterious’ document in the world.Stephen Bax, Professor of Applied Linguistics, has just become the first professional linguist to crack the code of the Voynich manuscript using an analytical approach. The world-renowned manuscript is full of illustrations of exotic plants, stars, and mysterious human figures, as well as many pages written in an unknown text...
Professor Bax however has begun to unlock the mystery meanings of the Voynich manuscript using his wide knowledge of mediaeval manuscripts and his familiarity with Semitic languages such as Arabic. Using careful linguistic analysis he is working on the script letter by letter.
“I hit on the idea of identifying proper names in the text, following historic approaches which successfully deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs and other mystery scripts, and I then used those names to work out part of the script... already my research shows conclusively that the manuscript is not a hoax, as some have claimed, and is probably a treatise on nature, perhaps in a Near Eastern or Asian language.”
Note: You can view a complete digitized copy of the Voynich manuscript online at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Addendum: Here's a dissenting opinion by someone who does not feel that the possibility of a hoax has been eliminated.
I'd point out that a proposed, partial transliteration of an 'alphabet' completely unseen in any other document which survived history does not prove that the voynich manuuscript is not a hoax. It may end up proving that the perpetrator was just exceptionally clever or creative.
ReplyDeleteWorth noting that hoax theorists aren't at all convinced
ReplyDeletehttp://hydeandrugg.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/applying-the-bax-proposed-solution/
Well, moon landing hoaxists still aren't convinced either, even though they have far less reason to dissent, of course. I'd just be more inclined to say that as of yet it's neither been proven to be genuine or a hoax. If it is a hoax, it's one of the most spectacular ever pulled. If it's genuine, it presents an even bigger mystery: Why did nothing else written in this language survive?
DeleteGiven the youth of the manuscript and the absence of anything else with similar form, i would lean toward hoax, but one never knows... It could be a faithful copy of some older manuscript produced by a long dead culture, for example. It's a delicious mystery, and i personally don't care whether it's genuine or faked, either way it's captivating and likely will be even after we know the answer to that yes/no question.
Thanks, Kniffler. I've inserted your link as an addendum to the post.
DeleteI hope nolandda will chime in with some comments...
I noticed myself that there are a LOT of repetitions of letters and combinations on the page shown in the link.
DeleteUnless this is a foreign Doctor Seuss book, then there are problems with it being a straightforward language.
Near Eastern and Asian languages do have many instances of the same character repeating twice or sometimes three times in a row.
Delete@Dinepo -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/i/isley_brothers/shout.html
Or, even better -
A-well-a, everybody's heard about the bird Bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, well, the bird is the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, well, the bird is the word A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, well, the bird is the word A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, don't you know about the bird Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a A-well-a, everybody's heard about the bird Bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, don't you know about the bird Well, everybody's talking about the bird A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word A-well-a, bird Surfin' bird Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb, aaah Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-oom-oom-oom Oom-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-a-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow Papa-oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow Well, don't you know about the bird Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow...
+1
DeleteI've always felt this is like a sample or proof of concept on a nature book with one person's version of Lorem Ipsum as the text. "I want to make a nature book that looks like this. I just need funding to go abroad and research real plants."
ReplyDeleteOh, I like this idea... sort of like Mingering Mike's "records." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingering_Mike
DeleteWasn't there something about a botanist identifying the plants, and going on from there? I can't seem to fine a reference for that, well not at this hour of the morning.
ReplyDeleteSome other links:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.voynich.nu/index.html
http://voynich.wikia.com/wiki/Voynich_manuscript_Wiki
A third link that I had has disappeared.
Lurker111