Voynich Manuscript -- A Woman's Health Guide?

I've always been intrigued by the Voynich Manuscript. Is it a real language? Is it an elaborate hoax?

This researcher claims to have determined that it is, in fact, a woman's health manual based on other writings of the time, and that the mystery language is, in fact, Latin shorthand.

What he's said in this article sounds convincing, but I'm afraid I'm not knowledgeable enough on these topics to figure out whether he's made a legitimate case, at this point. What you do you guys think? Is there anyone with more knowledge of the topic that can weigh in?

Voynich manuscript: the solution

a reply to: fiverx313

Why do woman make everything so complicated?

originally posted by: EartOccupant
a reply to: fiverx313

Why do woman make everything so complicated?

we enjoy the looks on your confused little faces

a reply to: fiverx313

Whether it was a real language or not, it was definitely real to whomever wrote it. I don't believe it to be a hoax, because the person would've had to practice writing like that their entire lives to reach such a comfortable and effortless level. But is it otherworldly? Who knows, but it is very intriguing.

a reply to: fiverx313

I should have added: And beautiful!

About the manuscript, i think it is intriguing and a work of art.
To make it takes knowledge to start with, and in it is much to learn.
It's not only the language, even the plants are unknown species they say.

I keep hearing about translations and code breaking.. but i'm not convinced yet.

Good mystery!

a reply to: EartOccupant

If it were too simple men would feel more inept for not understanding it.

it always reminded me of when i was a kid and i tried to create an encryption language... i was a stupid kid who thought i was a genius .

In the article Nicholas Gibbs explains his theory:

- The language is Latin, but the characters of the text are not letters, they're abbreviations of words (ligatures). A bit like & stands for "et", meaning "and" in Latin. This explains why the structure matches no known languages.

No one realized this earlier, because:

- Parts of the manuscript are missing; an index, and parts of the individual pages (the tops?). He thinks the index contained the names of the plants and treatments, and the illnesses. The pages themselves only contain minimal instructions.

Possibly it got damaged at some point, then someone cut the damaged parts out and rebound the manuscript? It seems legit, but I don't for sure either. Part of me feels sad if this is it, no big mystery. Somewhat surprising that no one thought of this earlier though.


a reply to: Aeshma

a reply to: EartOccupant

I doubt it was written by women anyway. At least the content seems to have been handed down from men like Galen, Hippocrates and Pliny, or whoever they got it from. But who knows.

Color me dubious (as you might suppose.)

Many of these "translations" hold up for a single section and then fall apart when another page is considered. (Letters that are claimed to be "aq" and stand for water in one part suddenly have to be another letter in another section.) This announcement seems to be a marketing announcement to sell a book.

if it IS a health guide i really want to know where that gnarly spa all the girls are hanging out is - my girl and i could do with a hallucinogenic spa day for real


also; i haven't read anything about the manuscript for aaaages but aren't some of the plants not even real? or strange impossible hybrids or something? so if it's an index of cures it's the "first, invent god" kind?

originally posted by: continuousThunder
also; i haven't read anything about the manuscript for aaaages but aren't some of the plants not even real? or strange impossible hybrids or something? so if it's an index of cures it's the "first, invent god" kind?

yeah, i remember reading that before as well. this guy doesn't seem to address that, except to say that some of the illustrations are not good, or parts of them are not good? i don't know if this is the whole answer either... which is nice because we still have the mystery

originally posted by: continuousThunder
aren't some of the plants not even real? or strange impossible hybrids or something

Maybe they have metaphorical significance, like if you're supposed to mix multiple ingredients together to make an herbal concoction? Like if you were mixing tomato and garlic, your picture might be a vine with cloves growing off it, etc. The illustrations seem pretty whimsical, and I wouldn't be surprised if they took a lot of artistic license. Lots of them feel more like decorative art than technical diagrams.

Has a Mysterious Medieval Code Really Been Solved?

a rebuttal to the article in the OP...

Makes sense, its long and makes absolutely no sense.