![]() ![]() What does this mean for the mystery of the book though? With the obvious exception of Spanish, most of these are considered dead languages and there are only a handful of people in the world who study them, let alone whom are capable of deciphering a text containing some 35,000 words. ![]() These references to Pre-Spanish Conquest languages are exciting, and the prospect of decoding the entire manuscript is tantalizing, but a problem still exists. Loan-words for the plant and animal names have been identified from Classical Nahuatl, Spanish, Taino, and Mixtec” to be similar to the Codex Osuna (1563-1566, Mexico City). “A search of the surviving codices and manuscripts from Nueva España in the 16th century reveals the calligraphy of the Voynich Ms. ![]() This alone is a monumental breakthrough in the story of the Voynich Manuscript, but it doesn’t end there. From that discovery, they were able, eventually, to identify 37 plants, 6 animals, and 1 mineral from the pages of the manuscript. Surprisingly though, these plants aren’t from Italy or anywhere else in Europe, they’re from Mexico.Ĭomparing the illustrations to the world’s geographic plant distribution at the time of the book’s first reported appearance (1576-1612), they found significant similarity between some of the images and the soap plant depicted in the 1552 Codex Cruz-Badianus of Mexico. Instead of limiting their comparisons to plant species found in Europe, they expanded the search to all known plant species, and wouldn’t you know it, they found a few matches. Tucker and Talbert compared the botanical illustrations to known plant species, which had been done before, but not as thoroughly. Most of the images in the Voynich Manuscript appear to be botanical in nature, with a few being geometric oddities and others being representations of humans and other animals in various poses and scenes. Instead of assuming the books origins lie in Europe, they discarded all previous assertions about the book and started anew, beginning with the many illustrations contained therein. Talbert – a retired US DOD and NASA information technologist – apparently took a different approach to the analysis, which led them to the other side of the planet. – botanist and emeritus professor at the Delaware State University – and Rexford H. Published Januin the peer-reviewed journal HerbalGram, the American Botanical Council put forward a new theory that turns the whole story on its ear. As it turns out though, this assumption has been the main reason no one has been able to decipher it. ![]() In spite of this doubt about its true origins, most who have endeavoured to crack the manuscript’s secrets have begun from the position of assuming it has its origins in Europe. Some claim that it’s an elaborate hoax, perhaps perpetrated by Voynich himself, while others suggest Voynich got swindled by a clever merchant, who manufactured the book as an oddity in search of a buyer. It was said that he acquired it from Jesuit Priests from Italy, though this story has been questioned for its veracity. Even the American NSA took a shot at it, and failed.īrought to the public eye by Polish-American rare books dealer Wilfred M. Thus far, the Voynich Manuscript has defied all attempts to decode it, despite the efforts of many learned and skillful code breakers, linguists, and scholars. You may remember it, but even if you don’t, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ve heard of this cryptic book from times past. It’s about the famed and mysterious Voynich Manuscript. One of the all-time most popular posts on this blog is also one of the earliest. ![]()
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