Reading the Voynich MS in Voynich

[Adam McLean <alchemy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Big Jim's recent investigations have certainly brought to
the forefront of my mind something that I have thought of
occasionally over the past few years I have been reading 
the messages on this group.

Is the use of the transcription into Latin characters a 
hinderance to our investigation of the manuscript ?  Has 
transcribing it into our familiar English alphabet actually 
removed  us somewhat from the context and we have 
lost some facet of the work which is contained 
somehow in the shapes of the Voynich characters 
themselves?

When, a few years ago, I tried to do some work on 
the manuscript, I felt unhappy with using the 
transcription and instead built up a database of 
the words in the manuscript and displayed them using
the Voynich font.  I did not at that time have any 
revelations or insights, but I wonder if we are really
losing something when we think of 'tchedy' without
seeing instead the actual Voynich characters. 

How many people work entirely with the latinised
transcription ?

Are we missing something deeply important, or
imposing a filter that isolates us from the 
essence of the manuscript ?

Of course this e-mail system precludes us, for the
most part, from displaying the Voynich characters
and we have to live with this I suppose, but is 
it an obstacle to our truly seeing the manuscript ?

A lot of questions but no answers.

Adam McLean
----------------------
alchemy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web site:  http://www.levity.com/alchemy/home.html
Alchemy Web bookstore:  http://www.alchemy.dial.pipex.com
Paintings: http://www.alchemy.dial.pipex.com/paintings