I watched the most recent episode of Expedition Files with Josh Gates (I know, I know, it’s not a scientifically rigorous peer-reviewed source) and he discussed the Voynich Manuscript. They didn’t present anything about solving the encryption, but talked about clues to the book’s possible origin.
The crenellations in the following image are similar to the crenellations on buildings associated with the Scaliger family in northern Italy.
There were Jewish residents/communities in that part of Italy in the same timeframe indicated by carbon dating of the Voynich Manuscript’s pages. The repeated images in the manuscript of women bathing may be related to Jewish mikvah bathing rituals. The repeated images of strange plants might be for identifying herbs. Cryptographic analysis of the manuscript suggest that the encrypted language might not use vowels, similar to Hebrew.
The theory presented to account for these “clues” was that the Voynich Manuscript might have been written by a Jewish physician or herbalist in northern Italy, and encoded to protect trade secrets.
I’ve heard before that the plants don’t match real species. Maybe if its an encrypted herbalist book, the images are also “encrypted”, with false features to confuse readers. For instance, the text could tell you to only consider the shape of the leaf, while the image throws in a weird flower that you are instructed to ignore.
Which, put together with the indecipherable language, alien plants, and bizarre astronomy, indicates that the Voynich Manuscript is the first pornographic fantasy/scifi novel, encrypted so the author’s mom couldn’t read it? This theory could be just as valid as anything else out there…
A compare and contrast might be interesting. I assume the Treatise on Herbs (egerton ms 747) has more accurate plant depictions than the Voynich. The Treatise does have some fanciful drawings of animals and people though. Wiki has this intriguing passage:
The origins of the tradition and the exact function of herbariums remain obscure and debated. While the earliest manuscripts were probably compiled as true scientific treatises, some derivative versions are more like prestige creations intended for a wealthy elite.
Interesting, but it doesn’t explain the wholly unknown alphabet in the Voynich, nor its linguistic integrity (eg word frequency following Zif’s law).
Egerton ms 747 was apparently an early version of the Treatise. I’d like to see a comparison of Voynich and more derivative versions such as the textless paris beaux arts masson 116. Are there medieval manuscripts with a similarly shaky grasp on medieval astronomy, astrology, botany, etc.?
