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Author Topic: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet  (Read 2112 times)

Dragonoake

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Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« on: March 06, 2014, 10:57:24 pm »
For nearly a decade, linguists and cryptologists have obsessed over the medieval Voynich manuscript, vigorously debating whether it represents a long-lost language, or gibberish. Now some of its symbols have been matched to sounds.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25105-mystery-voynich-manuscript-gets-preliminary-alphabet.html

HarpingHawke

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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2014, 11:45:16 pm »
Quote from: Dragonoake;141863
For nearly a decade, linguists and cryptologists have obsessed over the medieval Voynich manuscript, vigorously debating whether it represents a long-lost language, or gibberish. Now some of its symbols have been matched to sounds.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25105-mystery-voynich-manuscript-gets-preliminary-alphabet.html

 
That's so cool! I spent about half the summer of 2013 trying to independently figure out what some of the symbols meant and now that the manuscript is sorta being decoded it's just awesome! You have made my day!

...now let's just see them try to decode the rest...
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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2014, 06:12:34 am »
Quote from: Dragonoake;141863
For nearly a decade, linguists and cryptologists have obsessed over the medieval Voynich manuscript, vigorously debating whether it represents a long-lost language, or gibberish. Now some of its symbols have been matched to sounds.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25105-mystery-voynich-manuscript-gets-preliminary-alphabet.html

 
I am super excited about this development. The Voynich Manuscript is one of those things I can't think about too close to bedtime or I will never fall asleep. It's such a beautiful puzzle.
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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2014, 07:35:59 am »
Quote from: Dragonoake;141863
Now some of its symbols have been matched to sounds.
l

It's a small start -- but that's a bit on the amazing side given how long people have been working on it.
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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2014, 08:24:50 am »
Quote from: RandallS;141891
It's a small start -- but that's a bit on the amazing side given how long people have been working on it.

 
As I understand it, most of the attempts have been from a straight-up cryptographic standpoint based on the assumption that it was a cipher rather than taking context from the illustrations and assigning phonemes like Champollion's efforts with the Rosetta Stone.
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Aiwelin

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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2014, 10:30:19 am »
Quote from: Dragonoake;141863
For nearly a decade, linguists and cryptologists have obsessed over the medieval Voynich manuscript, vigorously debating whether it represents a long-lost language, or gibberish. Now some of its symbols have been matched to sounds.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25105-mystery-voynich-manuscript-gets-preliminary-alphabet.html

 
Oh, amazing!!  I'm still hoping to see this translated someday :)
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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2014, 05:28:32 pm »
Quote from: RandallS;141891
It's a small start -- but that's a bit on the amazing side given how long people have been working on it.

 
Oh, indeed.  This is one of those codes that has literally perplexed people for at least a century.  One of the leading theories for a few years was that it was an elaborate forgery of pure gibberish, it's been that hard to crack.

...then, of course, there are the guys from Ancient Aliens who "never said it was aliens but that it was likely aliens".

Dragonoake

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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2014, 06:04:47 pm »
Quote from: RandallS;141891
It's a small start -- but that's a bit on the amazing side given how long people have been working on it.


The problems in the de-coding would make sense if everybody is looking for an alphabet, in the sense that we are used to thinking of one, while it was actually written in phonetics like Cherokee  

Time will tell whether it's a brilliant break through or another dead end

Nyktipolos

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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2014, 06:18:06 pm »
Quote from: Dragonoake;141929
The problems in the de-coding would make sense if everybody is looking for an alphabet, in the sense that we are used to thinking of one, while it was actually written in phonetics like Cherokee  

Time will tell whether it's a brilliant break through or another dead end

 
Cherokee is written in syllabics, IIRC.
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Dragonoake

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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #9 on: March 07, 2014, 08:57:02 pm »
Quote from: Nyktipolos;141930
Cherokee is written in syllabics, IIRC.


Ok, but the point is the same - a symbol relates to a specific sound

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Re: Mystery Voynich manuscript gets preliminary alphabet
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2014, 09:37:29 pm »
Quote from: Dragonoake;141943
Ok, but the point is the same - a symbol relates to a specific sound

 
You might want to reconsider the phrasing on that. 'A symbol relates to a specific sound' is pretty common in written languages, including English.

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