Re: The letters <p> and <f>, again

[Rene Zandbergen <rene@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

Stolfi's table shows that one can usually exchange <k> for <t> (or v.v.)
and come up with a valid Voynich word. This is also true for the pair
<f> and <p>. At the same time, it shows that you cannot exchange
{<k> or <t>} for {<f> or <p>} (although there may be exceptions).

The appearance of <f> and <p> at top lines of paragraphs only
(virtually),
should remind us of the gallows in the letter shown in Capelli, where
these
are purely ornamental additions to existing letters at the top and
bottom lines only. Do we get valid Voynich words if the f's and p's
are simply removed? Or are they ornate variations of other letters?

On a more frivolous note, having recently been to Prague I find
it irresistable not to learn a bit more about the Czech language.
(I can already say: "do not enter or leave the train, the doors
are about to close") :-)
To the point. Czech has a number of orthographic rules which remind
me a bit of some of the observations made by Stolfi (no 'e' after
'f' or 'p').
I'm not saying that Voynichese is Czech, but if it is an invented
language, perhaps it was invented by someone who knew the Czech
language very well... Perhaps this is a feature of other Slavionic
lanugages too...
(Although I should add that I have no idea what the pronounciation
or spelling rules were in the 15th or 16th C.)

Cheers, Rene 


-- 
Rene