8/3/2019 Voynich Transcription - A Glyph-Based Transcription of the Voynich Manuscript http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/voynich-transcription-a-glyph-based-transcription-of-the-voynich-manuscript 1/25 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
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Voynich Transcription - A Glyph-Based Transcription of the Voynich Manuscript
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8/3/2019 Voynich Transcription - A Glyph-Based Transcription of the Voynich Manuscript
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 myhope 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 themost 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
8/3/2019 Voynich Transcription - A Glyph-Based Transcription of the Voynich Manuscript
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 Voynichscript 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 systemof 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
8/3/2019 Voynich Transcription - A Glyph-Based Transcription of the Voynich Manuscript
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 orientedtranscriptions 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 andZ, 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
8/3/2019 Voynich Transcription - A Glyph-Based Transcription of the Voynich Manuscript
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 visualexample 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”.)
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, gand 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.
8/3/2019 Voynich Transcription - A Glyph-Based Transcription of the Voynich Manuscript
What follows are the current assignments for the A-VoynichTranscription, which, while incomplete at this point,demonstrates the current methods of transcription, and invitesothers to offer criticism designed to improve on this model.