A Voynich.transcription. .a.glyph Based.transcription.of.the.voynich.manuscript

8/11/2019 A Voynich.transcription. .a.glyph Based.transcription.of.the.voynich.manuscript

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A-Voynich TranscriptionA 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


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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 likedto 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.


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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 thedissection of each Voynich glyph into several strokes. While Newbolds 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 DImperio. While these tended to universally

handle certain Voynich glyphs as individual characters, such as the gallowsi, h,gandf, orthe glyphs a,e, o, andw, there was a decided split of opinion when it came to some othercommon glyphs, primarily the'series glyphs. Currier transcribed the strokes'Nand''Nas'M and N respectively, while others chose to transcribe them as a series of glyphs. TheSecond Study Group and the Currier transcriptions are unique in assigning single transcription

characters to the more common Voynich combination glyphs. DImperio considered the

various transcription approaches to embody the theories of individual transcribers, and I believe

this is a fair assumption.

Somewhere in the 1990s 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 transcriptionproject 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 Gwith a single character, and The First Study Group transcribedit with two, (a combination ofgandw), EVA transcribes it with three characters, meant torepresent c,g, and Z. While I prefer Curriers representation of the Gas a single glyph, thereis logic in the First Study Groups combination ofgandw, since both are very commonglyphs in their own right. Occurrences of Zas a single glyph are very rare indeed, and no othertranscription divided the extremely common glyphwinto two parts, cand Zas they occur inthe EVA transcription. EVA also transcribes the very commonWglyph as a combination of 2and Z, when in fact 2is a standalone glyph that has little to do with the construction ofWinthis sense. The Voynich combined formXdoes exist, as does the formx, but thesedifferences are ignored in the EVA transcription. This transcription seeks to encode these

differences in common Voynich glyphs.


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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. DImperio

I couldnt agree more with any statement made by any other Voynichologist, but the fact

remains that esoteric theories of glyph origination and construction still abound. Tiltmans

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 Portas 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!


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(A page from Portas De Furtivus Literarum Notis Vulgo.)


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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 beconsidered simple glyphs and not just strokes. The cglyph stands at the base of other glyphs,those being a,e,o,8,9 and2. The'glyph stands at the base of only two glyphs, theNandthes. All but the8are formed by adding a simple stroke. The8adds a loop, or perhaps it is acombination of glyphs, thecand thee.

One other glyph appears to be used to form the gallows characters, this being the 4glyph with a loop attached. There are two basic forms of the gallows glyphs, theiand theg.These forms are modified on the left side to create the handfglyphs.

Compound glyphs

From the two simple glyphs cand'come the compound set a,e, o, 2, 8, 9,N, and s,to which may be added thewglyph, the only standard compound glyph in this set containingthree strokes instead of two. The 4 glyph generates the standard set 4,i, h,g andf. Thereis some discussion whether the string 4oisn't a single glyph comprised of a combination of the4and the o. While it does appear almost exclusively at the beginning of a word, its occurrencedoesnt appear to be any higher than that of the strings 89or oe. Transcribing the string 4oastwo 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 thegandfglyphs appear a very high percentage ofthe 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 theiand hglyphs. The simple glyph'when located in themiddle of a word appears as a', but at the end of a word appears with a tail, thusN. This tail atthe 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 Dends a word, italmost always has a tail, d. The same is true of the combination sets',u, andUfound inthe middle of words. One is tempted to conclude that these are no different than theN,n, and


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mglyphs found at the end of words. an 8in the middle of a word many times appears as an *at the end, and there are probably a few more examples Ive omitted.

Combinations

From many of the standard glyphs come sets of combination glyphs.

cgenerates

C,

D, and d. ccombinations also include characters such as @. 'generatesu,U,n,m, andN, and when combined with the s glyph generatesSandt. Another similar seriesis generated with the *glyph. When the'is added, we get glyphs such aspandP.

Thewglyph has a set of combination glyphs all its own. This glyph gives us thevariationsW,x X Y yand alsoz and Z. (There is one occurrence on folio 1v of theglyph.) When combined with the gallows glyphs we get I, H, Gand F. As is to beexpected 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 DImperio 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-VoynichTranscription, which, while incomplete at this point, demonstratesthe current methods of transcription, and invites others to offercriticism designed to improve on this model.


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A-Voynich Glyph Set

Chr Code Name A-V Chr Code Name A-V! 33 Exclamation = 61 Equals 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 M2 50 Digit 2 2 N 78 N N3 51 Digit 3 O 79 O 4 52 Digit 4 4 P 80 P P5 53 Digit 5 Q 81 Q 6 54 Digit 6 R 82 R 7 55 Digit 7 S 83 S S8 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


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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 sa 97 a a t 116 t tb 98 b u 117 u uc 99 c c v 118 v

d 100 d d w 119 w we 101 e e x 120 x xf 102 f f y 121 y yg 103 g g z 122 z zh 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


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A-Voynich Supplemental Glyph Set

Chr Code Name A-V Location[folio/line]

Chr Code Name A-V

161 Inverted exclamation f1v/9 188 One quarter 162 Cent sign

f11r/5 189 One half

163 Pound sign f1v/7 190 Three quarters 164 Currency sign f1v/10 191 Inverted question mark 165 Yen sign f15v/2 192 A grave 166 Broken bar f33v/8 193 A acute 167 Section sign f42v/2 194 A circumflex 168 Umlaut or diaeresis f42v/14 195 A tilde 169 Copyright sign 196 A umlaut 170 Feminine ordinal 197 A ring 171 Left angle quotes 198 AE ligature 172 Logical not sign 199 C cedilla - 173 Soft hyphen 200 E grave 174 Registered trademark 201 E acute 175 Spacing macron

202 E circumflex

176 Degree sign 203 E umlaut 177 Plus-minus sign 204 I grave 178 Superscript 2 205 I acute 179 Superscript 3 206 I circumflex 180 Spacing acute 207 I umlaut 181 Micro sign 208 ETH 182 Paragraph sign 209 N tilde 183 Middle dot 210 O grave 184 Spacing cedilla 211 O acute 185 Superscript 1 212 O circumflex 186 Masculine ordinal 213 O tilde 187 Right angle quotes 214 O umlaut


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215 Multiplication sign 236 i grave 216 O slash 237 i acute 217 U grave 238 i circumflex 218 U acute 239 i umlaut 219 U circumflex 240 eth 220 U umlaut 241 n tilde 221 Y acute 242 o grave 222 THORN 243 o acute 223 sharp s 244 o circumflex 224 a grave 245 o tilde 225 a acute 246 o umlaut

226 a circumflex 247 division sign 227 a tilde 248 o slash 228 a umlaut 249 u grave 229 a ring 250 u acute 230 ae ligature 251 u circumflex 231 c cedilla 252 u umlaut 232 e grave 253 y acute 233 e acute 254 thorn 234 e circumflex 255 y umlaut 235 e umlaut


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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

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


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ohoeWoe hoe hcw9 woe h9 woe Ioe wo89 woe 8am

Wos ohoe woe 8oeh9 8as Woe 8wos oiwo 8aso89

Ioos woiwc9 8ae wo89 2wo89goe wo8as

Line 7 -4owith a line over it may also be represented by code 163,.Line 9 The character, code 164,appears to be unique.Line 10 - While thisgis probably a normal character, an alternate representation would be code164,.


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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


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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


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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


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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


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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 4oiwc9Wciw9 9ios 8an

Wo9hC9 8am 4oiw9 4oios woe 8am 4ohw9 h9

Wom wos WI9 4oi9 4oiom 4ohoe wosam

4ohoe w9h9 woewch9 8am 8an wHaN


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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 8o88woe w9 hw9 89 8am

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

o8e 829 oioe wam9hwos 8aS wo89 I9 2 8am

4oiw9 ohwoe I9 89


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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


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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


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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


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iosos 8ae98ae ogw9 fwoe 9gwoJ9 ohae

2ohw9 4ohoe woi9 ohw9 I9 w9 hw9

89wohw9 WI9 Wiy9 Wo iwoh98

4ohwos 8e 89 yc9


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Folio 33v

iasas8am 98an Ic9 8oe2 Wch9 osamx

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 889 8as am ohas9

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

ewoas os wc9 eo8am o os ohcc89 ohae9


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ias ae hC9 osap


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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


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2o8ae 2am

goWcos Wo was wchwc9 4oho8yo 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 C2woe9 2asas an ae

wohc9 woe ohc9 ohos o8cc9

Documents

A Voynich.transcription. .a.glyph Based.transcription.of.the.voynich.manuscript