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Hi all,
I don't think we can really assume that the
VMS 'words' correspond to plaintext words in general. My reasoning for this is
the observation that such a high proportion of VMS 'words' contain a gallows
character and yet virtually none contains more than one. To me this implies that
there is not a one-to-one correspondence between VMS symbols and 'normal'
letters, so either some symbols are nulls, or the encryption uses different
systems in different parts of a 'word', or some such scheme. Given that the
author went to those kind of lengths, I think it likely that plaintext word
breaks would not be reflected in the VMS text.
FWIW I imagine the plaintext having been
grouped into sequences of, say, 4 letters which were then converted into VMS
'words' using some yet-to-be-determined scheme, probably changing the encryption
method depending on factors such as position in a sequence, previous/next
letter, or something. And converting some input characters into multiple output
symbols to vary the VMS 'word' length, maybe sprinkling some nulls in for good
measure.
Of course this will make it very hard, if
not impossible, to decipher - but that only makes me more determined to
try!
Cheers,
Jon (not John) Grove.
I find myself in rare agreement with
someone else.... that the text, if not based on Welsh, will be found at least
to have a very strong Welsh influence. I do not however believe
that any of the text in the VMS can be translated directly from the script to
intelligible text - quite simply put, without first deciphering
it.
Any arguments as to word length are to me
no argument at all. Simply peruse volume after volume of old English
text to find that spelling and variation is the wonderful charm of that
language. I wonder if such a wide array of spelling variations were
available in the latin text? I have transcribed all of Francis Bacon's
latin books, and at least by 1623 the spellings were quite standard, although
some variation in English still remained.
A word list to consider:
take, tak, taik, took, tok, toke, hand, hande, etc. illgotten, illgotn,
ill-goten, ill-gotten, il-goten, etc.
With all these variations, especially by
certain authors, it does not surprise me that there are so many short words
and extremely few long ones.
GC
Old Welsh does have some similarities to the letter patterns (ie
double consonants in weird places, essentially the same word with an
additional letter thrown in, etc). However, unless I am mistaken I
don't remember Welsh texts having so many words that end with the same
character (ie the extensive number of words that end in Voyichnese (o, and
y))
It would be interesting to see what you have come up with.
****************************** Larry Roux Syracuse
University lroux@xxxxxxx*******************************
>>> adam.sparshott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 01/22/03 03:40AM
>>>
Very Interesting.
I would love to see something
further on this.
Does Jim Reeds still have the documents and can they be
scanned?
Regards
Adam
>===== Original Message
From MrTim1000@xxxxxxx =====
>Oops! Sorry, accidently sent it before
fully typed.
> Hi!
> This is in response to G. Landini's
statement in Re: VMs:Random Text
>Generation: "Try to prove that vms
was written in Welsh"
>
>IT IS!
>
> I did research
into the VMs over 8 years ago, using Welsh as a basis of
>attack on
the underlying language of the manuscript, and was able to
>translate
a fair amount of words on two (short) pages (over 10%
actually).
>Copies of my findings were sent to Yale, and also to Jim
Reeds.
> Unfortunately, further translations are beyond my means at
this time, mainly
>due to not having access to comprehensive
glossaries of Early Welsh. (Most of
>the words in the VMs no longer
'exist' in current usage.)
> If you want proof, it will take some
time, as I will have to update my
>findings to electronic media. (Or
have Reeds fax you the copy I sent him. If
>he still has
it...)
>
>T.E.Ackerson
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