Por le bon Simon Sint… what?
Here’s a quick Voynich Manuscript palaeographic puzzle for you. A couple of months ago, I discussed Edith Sherwood’s suggestion that the third letter in the piece of marginalia on f116v was a Florentine “x”, as per Leonardo da Vinci’s quasi-shorthand. I also proposed that the topmost line there might have read “por le bon simon s…”
Going over this again just now, I did a bit of cut-and-paste-and-contrast-enhance in a graphics editor to see if I could read the next few letters:-
OK, I’m still reasonably happy with “por le bon simon s…“, but what then? Right now, I suspect that this last word begins “sint…” (and is possibly “sintpeter“?) – could it be that this is the surname of the intended recipient? Of course, in the Bible, St Peter’s name was originally Simon, so “simon sintpeter” may or may not be particularly informative - but it could be a start, all the same.
But then again, the “n” and/or “t” of the “sint” could equally well have been emended by a well-meaning later owner: and the last few letters could be read as “ifer“, depending on whether or not the mark above the word is in the same ink. Where are those multispectral scans when you need them? Bah!
Feel free to add your own alternate readings below! 
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:08 pm
With a little imagination, I can read the “sintpeter” as “Lucifer”, although the initial L looks oddly shaped and smudged.
June 24th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Nick,
I still think the VM’s a Duran Duran songbook, perhaps with a real weird tabulature… for lute or harp? (IIRC the guitar as we know it nowadays had not yet been invented, so this might account for that.)
But if there’s a copyright notice related to Simon le Bon… that’s compelling.
Elmar
June 24th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Hi Elmar,
Well, let’s look at the primary evidence:-
fachys.ykal.ar.ataiin.shol.shory.cth!res.y.kor.sholdy!-
See them walking hand in hand across the bridge at midnight
sory.ckhar.o!r.y.kair.chtaiin.shar.are.cthar.cthar.dan!-
Heads turning as the lights flashing out it’s so bright
OK, though it’s far from a brilliant match, I must confess to having been shown worse Voynich theories.
Cheers, ….Nick Pelling….
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 am
[...] The funny thing is that not even the latin letters in the VM can be read — or, to be more accurate, they can be read, but they don’t seem to make sense. On f116v people haven’t come up with much better than “Anchiton oladabas” (whatever that’s supposed to mean…) or arcane references to an Eighties’ synth pop band … [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 8:45 am
IMHO in first word i can read ancient greek letter “gama” and word sounds in German: “gotleben” … Too many possibilities for reading
July 13th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Too many possibilities, too few probabilities: it’s The Voynich Way. *sigh*