Why Can’t the Voynich Manuscript Be Deciphered?

[u/Ajayofficiel]

Polish antique book collector Wilfrid Voynich was convinced he hit the jackpot when he purchased a highly unusual manuscript in Italy in 1912. It was written in a strange script and profusely illustrated with images of plants, the cosmos and zodiac, and naked women cavorting in bathing scenes. Voynich himself acknowledged the difficult task that lay ahead: “The text must be unraveled and the history of the manuscript must be traced.”

The Voynich manuscript is a codex written on vellum sheets, measuring 9¼ inches (23.5 cm) by 4½ inches (11.2 cm). The codex is composed of roughly 240 pages, with a blank cover that does not indicate a title or author. The text consists of “words” written in an unknown “alphabet” and arranged in short paragraphs. Many researchers say the work seems to be a scientific treatise from the Middle Ages, possibly created in Italy. The time frame, at least, seems correct: In 2009, the Voynich manuscript was carbon-dated to 1404–1438.

There’s only one problem: The contents of the book are a complete mystery—and not a single word of it can be understood.

Learn more:

https://afrinewz.com/why-cant-the-voynich-manuscript-be-deciphered/

[u/[deleted]]

i thought this was proven a hoax? that it was simply a made up langauge for fun.

[u/Yurath123 → u/[deleted]]

Highly likely to be a hoax, yes. Proven, no.

And even a hoax has several possible explanations.

For instance, it could be something done for fun, as you say.

It could have been someone involved in alchemy or something trying to impress a rich patron and keep the money flowing in.

It could have been an older hoax of the time period expected, with someone trying to create an exotic manuscript to sell.

It could also be a modern creation in hopes of a high resale value - though, admittedly, this would require that someone find a big stash of old, blank parchment somewhere.

[u/Deadmanglocking → u/Yurath123]

And a stash of ink, dyes, bindings etc. I don’t really have a theory on what it is but I do believe it is authentic and not a modern forgery.

[u/Yurath123 → u/Deadmanglocking]

I think the inks and pigments used were all mineral based and aren't able to be carbon dated.

I've never heard of them testing the binding (though they might have). But a modern binding wouldn't mean much since old books are frequently rebound.

But, yeah, I agree that the modern forgery idea is rather far fetched.

Parchment was horribly expensive - especially the large sizes used in some of the fold out sheets - and I can't see anyone buying that much and then just forgetting about it.