„The Key to The Voynich Manuscript copyright © 7 by: e g. Ag ieszka Kałuż a, e-mail: agrestkka@gmail.com , Jacek “yguła e-mail: jack.sygula@gmail.com , Grzegorz Jaśkie icz, PhD, e-mail: gj.jaskiewicz@gmail.com written between 26.05.2016 – 12.06.2017 This article aims to give the clearest and most coherent presentation of many properties and oddities of the language underlying the glyph metastructure of the Voynich Manuscript. The key question here seems to be: what causes the high compression of the manuscript text, characterized by the low "2nd order entropy"? And, more specifically, if this is a property linked to the structure and morphology of a natural language or constructed language. Or, maybe, the compact character of the text has something to do with the way it was written (the alphabet, abjad, abugida, syllabary)? We have devoted over a year of systematic analytical work to study the characteristics of this medieval manuscript, posing a lot of difficult and enquiring questions in the process and searching for answers by coming up with counterexamples that enabled us to confirm and reject different working hypotheses. Our primary goal was to obtain answers to the most fundamental questions regarding: 1. The language or languages in which the VM was written. 2. The morphology, syntax and semantics of the VM. 3. The origin of the agglutinative form of notation, resembling the structure of constructed languages created by John Wilkins in the 17th century and Letellier in the 19th century. 4. The recurrent phenomenon of total reduplication, which is also the property of only two Roman languages: Sardinian and Sicilian, as reduplication frequently occurs in the Mediterranean Basin countries. 5. The origin of the manuscript. 6. The type of information recorded in the four main "ornamental" glyphs and "Capelli Gallows" as well as the question if other allograph values can be ascribed to them, and whether it is justifiable. 7. The question why the text fulfils the requirements of Zipf's Law. 8. The place where the manuscript or its facsimilies were written. 9. The authorship of the manuscript. Using numerous examples we will demonstrate that the answers to the majority of these questions are positive. The first step will be the transcription of the Voynich alphabet into the Latin alphabet and the second step, showing that the application of this method in the whole manuscript leads to the correct and surprisingly accurate results. 1 The Voynich Manuscript alphabet and its transcription incl. allographs into the Latin alphabet: Char AK & JS AK & JS AK & JS AK & JS abbrev. Char AK & JS AK & JS AK & JS rum abbrev. i[e] o abbrev. i[e]lis i et ? prefix con- com- cum-(?) suffix -us -os (?) -es (?) abbrev. su ? abbrev. lis ? ligature re ri ligature st Greek: abbrev. sust sost (?) sest (?) abbrev. nom abbrev. ffi phyt fit/vit abbrev. mom ligature a ae [għ]a[e] abbrev. tsi ci abbrev. kh[w] k[h] ? -r ? ? ? abbrev. k ris ? 2 mum abbrev. sffit sfitt ? abbrev. sat saet ? abbrev. scit abbrev. skht ? ligature et a ? e ? 3 Examples of translation: folio: f36 Photo wikipedia: courtesy Alberto Salguero Quiles en Gozquez de Arriba EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f36v/exa:pcharasy a st a r a su us „astarasuus” := astarasus := sparagio := Asparagus Etymology: Italian Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus_(genus) https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_b2Hml9BWO3cC/bub_gb_b2Hml9BWO3cC_djvu.txt 4 folio: “f77v” EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f77v/exa:sosoral su o r(i/e) o ri a lis „suori” := sweat „suore” := nuns „ori-alis” := abbreviation of word “Orientalis” „Suori / suore Orientalis” := sweetie’s of the East / nuns of the East Etymology: suori (Venetian) suore (Italian) Orientalis (Latin) Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suor#Venetian https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suore#Italian https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suora#Italian https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/orientalis 5 folio: “f96v” EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f96v/exa:teo phyt e o „phyteo” := plantation or „phyto” := plants Etymology: phyteo (Greek) φῠ όν / phutón (ancient Greek) Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%86%CF%85%CF%84%CF%8C%CE%BD#Ancient_ Greek 6 folio: “f68r3” EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f68r3/exa:doaro i o a ri es „Io Aries” := „I am Aries” [I am The Bull] := [I am Taurus] Etymology: io (Italian) Aries (Latin) Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/io#Italian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aries_(astrology) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aries#Latin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_(constellation) 7 folio: “f21r” EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f21r/exa:pchor [għ]a st o r „[kh]astor” := [C]astor EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f21r/exa:oeeockhy o le o scit us „oleo scitus” := „oil searched” Etymology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oleo https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scitus „[C]astor oleo scitus” := „Castor oil searched” derivation: [suppositorium oeeo := suppositorium oleo] cc :=> ee :=> le 8 folio: “f41v” EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f41v/exa:keerodal ci le ri o i a lis „tsilerioialis” := „cilerioialis” := relating to celery [plants] Etymology: cilerio := céleri (French) := selleri (Lombard) := celery cělěr, ěris, ěre (Latin) := celere, rapido, veloce, pronto (Italian) := fast, quick, swift Latin suffix: -ialis := relating to or characterized by Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/c%C3%A9leri#French https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/celer#Latin https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/celere 9 folio: ”f3v” EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f3v/exa:koaiin ci o a mom „cioam.” := „cioamom” := „cinamom” := Cinnamon Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon Grosses vollständiges Universal Lexicon aller Wissenschaften und Künste, Tom 34 https://books.google.pl/books?id=WeFBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PT829&lpg=PT829&dq=cioamom &source=bl&ots=bF3fGydD3h&sig=jieiSnQeYtjWmzwrj9K14TWpe0&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwievqO0sLTUAhXJB5oKHad0AcYQ6AEIIjAA#v=on epage&q=cioamom&f=false 10 folio: ”f1r” „4th signature” EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f1r/exa:dchaiin u i st a u nom „ist au nom” := „c’est au nom” := it is in the name Etymology: c’est au nom (French) EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f1r/exa:daiin u et a u nom „et au nom” := and the name Etymology: [c’]e[s]t au nom (French) au(x) (French) := definite article https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/au#French https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-definite-article 11 folio: “f2r” EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f2r/all:kydainy ci con i a nom us „ciconia nomus”:= stork name(d) Etymology: ciconia (Latin) nom (French, Occitan) suffix: -us (Latin) Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciconia https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nom#French https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nom#Occitan 12 folio: “f1r” „1st signature” EVA: http://www.voynichese.com/#/f1r/exa:ydaraishy con i a r[e] a[b] i sust us „con iar[e] a[b] I[e]sus tus” := with the blood of Jesus (I’ve done) burnt offering Etymology: Prefix: con- (Latin) iar[e] (ancient Greek) a[b] (Latin) I[e]sus (Latin) tus (ancient Greek) Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/con-#Latin https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%BC%94%CE%B1%CF%81#Ancient_Greek https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ab#Latin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_(name) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tus#Latin 13 Statistical properties of n-grams counted by PhD Grzegorz Jaśkie icz. Empirical distribution of quadgrams compared to theoretically calculated curve according to Zipf's Law. Empirical distribution of words compared to theoretically calculated curve according to Zipf's Law. 14 In conclusion, we can state that the transcription of the alphabet used in the VM into the Latin one by means of the method that we adopted enabled us to obtain astonishingly accurate results which allow for the accurate reading of the manuscript. Our translation reveals that what we are dealing with is a coherent text, based on a specific language scheme, with a simplified grammar. The use of Latin ligatures, abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes by the author in the form shown in the table corresponds to the low value of the"2nd order entropy" and the extremely high compression of the text. The total reduplication, i.e. the repetition of words that look identical does not necessarily entail their exact repetition. The combination of prefixes ("9"): con-, com- and cum- and suffixes ( 9 ): -us, -os and -es generates 9 different versions of a word. If the sign"8" with a variable meaning "i" or "et" is added in the middle of a word, as many as 18 different phonetic and semantic combinations of words can be created by means of the same group of signs. The words that we decoded came in Latin (Late Latin, Vulgar Latin), Greek (ancient Greek the "labels" which are the proper names of Greek deities being used with reference to different plants), French, Italian, Spanish, and one word from the Slavic group of languages (possibly Serbian or Russian). It is very likely that the manuscript contains some words from the language of Normans (Old Norse) as well as German, Arabic, Persian and Khwarizmian - the use of abbreviation [ kh(w) ] strongly suggests some Persian or Khwarezmian influence on the manuscript. Our findings lead us to believe that the Voynich Manuscript is a facsimile of a document written in Palermo (Sicily) at the beginning of the 13th century, during the Hohenstaufen dynasty. We have noticed that similar ornaments were used in the VM and some 12th century ligatures and abbreviations in which "Imperial Minuscule" font was employed. "Diploma of the Emperor Conrad III of 1139" is one such document. Emperor Conrad III was the first king of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty in Germany and the Holy Roman Emperor. His grandson was Henry VI, the Holy Roman Emperor. From 1194 Henry VI was also the King of Sicily. Members of the Hohenstaufen family were often called "Ghibellines", the word derived from the italianized name of Waiblingen castle. At the beginning of the 13th century Palermo was the place where various Arabic, Greek, Jewish, Slavic ("Harat As-saqaliba"), German, Persian and Khwarezmian communities coexisted. It was also the seat of the descendants of the Normans ruling Sicily between 1091 and 1194. The decoding of the word "8aun" translated from French as "[8]au nom" [the name] makes it possible to conduct a direct language test. Each word preceding or following the word "8aun" should be a noun specyfying the name of an object, a plant or some other entity. Acknowledgements : We would like to thank prof. Joseph M. Brincat from the University of Malta and Anton F. Attard for their scientific support as well as the time devoted to our last year's meetings in Malta. Also, we are deeply grateful to prof. Dionisius A. Agius for the help and kindness we received from him. Our thanks also go to Lydia and Mark Zammit and fra Jose Debono for their wonderful help and unforgettable hospitality, which made our stay in Malta possible. We also a t to gi e special tha ks to dr Rafał T. Pri ke fro The U i ersity of Physical Educatio i Poz ań as ell as prof. He ryk Ja ko ski a d dr A drzej Drozd fro Ada Mickie icz U i ersity i Poz ań for the li guistic co sultatio s co ected ith our attempts at reading the Voynich Manuscript. We are also thankful to prof Gabriel Landini for sending a copy of the article published in "Cryptology" (2001) to us. 15 Moreover, we want to thank the people who helped us with the translation of this article: Barbara “yguła-Ja o ska a d Walde ar Ja o ski. Ada Mickie icz U i ersity, Poz ań Literature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript A. CAPPELLI. DIZIONARIO DI ABBREVIATURE LATINI ED ITALIANI. Milano, 1912. LXVIII, 529 p., ill. http://www.hist.msu.ru/Departments/Medieval/Cappelli M.Montemurro, D.H. Zanette, „Keywords and Co-Occurrence Patterns in the Voynich Manuscript: An Information-Theoretic Analysis”, PLoSONE, 2013. Jorge Stolfi, „A prefix-midfix-suffix decomposition of Voynichese words”, http://www.ic.unicamp.br/~stolfi/EXPORT/projects/voynich/97-11-12-pms 1997, Kevin Knight, Sravana Reddy, „What We Know About The Voynich Manuscript”, 5th ACL Workshop on Language Technology for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, and Humanities, 2011. Gabriel Landini, „Evidence of Linguistic structure in the Voynich Manuscript using spectral analysis”, „Cryptologia” 2001. Denis. J. Stallings, „Understanding the Second-Order Entropies of Voynich Text”, 1998, http://ixoloxi.com/voynich/mbpaper.htm Stephen Bax, „A proposed partial decoding of the Voynich script”, 2014. Grzegorz Jaśkiewicz, „Analysis of Letter Frequency Distribution in the Voynich Manuscript”, CONCURRENCY, SPECIFICATION AND PROGRAMMING M. Szczuka et al. (eds.): Proceedings of the international workshop CS&P 2011 September 28-30, Pułtusk, Poland, pp. 250-261. „Theory of Data Compression”, http://www.data-compression.com/theory.shtml Rafał. T. Prinke, „Polski rewolucjonista i tajemniczy manuskrypt”, "Mówią Wieki", 08/ 2008. Julie Anne Taylor, „Muslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera”, Brooks Lexington, 2005. Joseph M. Brincat, „Maltese and other languages”, Gutenberg Press Ltd., Malta 2011. Dionisius A. Agius, „Siculo Arabic”, Routledge, 1996. Clifford R. Backman, „Piracy”, Chapter 11, „A companion to Mediterranean History”, WILEY Blackwell, 2014. Alex Metcalfe, „ The Muslims of Medieval Italy”, Edinburgh University Press, 2009. 16 Rene Zandbergen’s : www.voynich.nu σick Pelling’s : http://ciphermysteries.com/the-voynich-manuscript D.σ. τ’Donovan’s: https://voynichimagery.wordpress.com Voynich Ninja’s website: https://voynich.ninja Stephen Bax’s website: https://stephenbax.net Jorge Stolfi’s website: http://www.ic.unicamp.br/~stolfi/EXPORT/projects/voynich/Welcome.html 17