Comments on: Cod. Pal. Germ. 597′s cipher…

By: nickpelling

nickpelling — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:31:32 +0000

Hi VC,

Please email me direct, I’d be happy to be a constructive part of any such effort – nickpelling@nickpelling.com

Cheers, ….Nick Pelling….

By: VC

VC — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:27:15 +0000

Nick:

I have a verifiable solution to the VMS script. I know, I know, but, yes, I really do have a valid proof. I’m looking for a 2~4 hardy souls willing to come together (virtually) to translate and fully document the manuscript. As the “writing” is not what everyone thinks it is the translation will take some time. If anyone earnestly wants to unseal this document and publish drop me a line.

By: Tony

Tony — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:23:36 +0000

corrections to previous -
top line DTWKACF
second line BENMGZOOU
third line SHPRLIU

the 2 O’s and U’s are the same symbol badly drawn
Q is represented by a symbol that looks like a lower case q

By: nickpelling

nickpelling — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:08:25 +0000

Hi Tony,

Don’t breathe the fumes! That way lies only madness and the ghosts of book deals past!

Cheers, ….Nick P….

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:35:50 +0000

Nick
It’s not half baked any more – you’ve just convinced me I’m right – picture a novice scribe working by candlelight – he is copying a copy of a document in a language he does not know written in characters only some of which he recognises – the result is exactly what you describe – his own hand is purposeful and clear – parts of the alphabet remain the same whilst others are changed etc. etc.

I must write a book on this …. now quickly quockly quokely quokedy-where’s that list of publishers

By: nickpelling

nickpelling — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:57:26 +0000

Hi Tony,

Once I’ve transcribed decent lumps of both CPG597 ciphers, I’ll pass them on to you, they should break pretty easily (he says).

For the VMs, Chinese Whispers doesn’t sit particularly well with the clear, purposeful handwriting. I’m reasonably sure that it’s a combination of verbsoe cipher (hence all the qo / ol / al / or / ar pairs), a restricted polyalpha (say, where part of the alphabet changes state, but part remains the same) and shorthand abbreviations/contractions. That would explain the unusual statistical properties we see… but it would be a r’ght b’stard to crack. Oh well!

Good luck with the last one of the Bellaso set!

Cheers, ….Nick Pelling….

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:45:57 +0000

After supper -

Top line D T ? K A ? F
Second line B E N M ? ? O O U
Third line S W P R L I U

Using the above produces ‘kupfer’ (copper); ‘merkuri’ (mercury); ‘silberron’ (silver); etc
But my Germans only as good as my Italian – so I can’t read it & got lost with the chw ch tz ??? etc.

Back to Bellaso

Regarding Rene’s question “why does the Voynich Manuscript not look like any of those ciphered manuscripts?” –
My half baked theory is its an accidental case of ‘Chinese whispers’ in writing.

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 16 May 2009 02:50:59 +0000

That’s a curious document… in particular, I wonder why some pages are seemingly crossed out, and what the animal drawings represent. I look forward to hearing about what it all might mean– some of those symbols in the first cipher might stand in for the planetary symbols which represented substances in alchemy.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:52:18 +0000

Thanks, Nick! Let us know when you or Tony have solved some of it. I wonder what Adam Maclean knows about it too.

Feeling lazy today,
Dennis