The Mysterious Voynich Manuscript

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by wet1, Sep 13, 2002.

  1. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    Credit: Yale University <http://www.library.yale.edu/> ; Digital Copyright: B. E. Schaefer <mailto:schaefer@astro.as.utexas.edu> (U. Texas <http://www.as.utexas.edu/>)

    The ancient text has no known title, no known author, and is written in no known language: what does it say and why does it have many astronomy illustrations? The mysterious book was once bought by an emperor forgotten on a library shelf, sold for thousands of dollars, and later donated to Yale Possibly written in the 15th century, the over 200-page volume is known most recently as the Voynich Manuscript after its (re-)discoverer in 1912. Pictured above is an illustration from the book that appears to be somehow related to the Sun. The book labels some patches of the sky with unfamiliar constellations. The inability of modern historians of astronomy to understand the origins of these constellations is perhaps dwarfed by the inability of modern code-breakers to understand the book's text. The book remains in Yale's rare book collection under catalog number "MS 408."
     
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  3. Pollux V Ra Bless America Registered Senior Member

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    The style looks Arabic to me. I wonder if they're trying to decode it from right to left (as arabic is written, I believe) or left to right . Maybe they should bring in some foreign language experts to give it a go.
     
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  5. (Q) Encephaloid Martini Valued Senior Member

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  7. *stRgrL* Kicks ass Valued Senior Member

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    Trippyyyyyyyy:bugeye:
     
  8. Thor "Pfft, Rebel scum!" Valued Senior Member

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    Could have been someone trying to learn an old language or start up a new one. Or it could just be a prank. Who knows til we know
     
  9. kmguru Staff Member

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    It looks like Klingon to me....ie...some old linguist probably tried to create a new language as Thor suggested or the language could be eastern in origin...

    They should give it to the NSA to decipher it....
     
  10. kmguru Staff Member

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    The letters look more like a cross between pre-sanskrit and chinese characters due to the nature of compound letters. It could be either one.
     
  11. Popcorn8636 Registered Senior Member

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    (Sitting in a flying saucer, gazing down at earth...)

    Tee hee hee hee heeee...
     
  12. Agesilaus Registered Senior Member

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    Why would cryptographers be expected to decypher an unknown language? Unless they have some sort of key, like the Rosetta Stone, then they have no chance of doing so.
     

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