VMs: Hebrew Kabbalistic Cryptography

["Donald Goodell" <donald.goodell@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Larry:

You wrote in Section II of your attachment (Ancient Character Replacement)

QUOTE "There have been examples of languages over time where vowels were not
incorporated into the written language.  The Dead Sea scrolls, for instance,
are written in a vowel-less version of Hebrew. " UNQUOTE



Actually, Larry, all Hebrew and Aramaic MSS and inscriptions from Antiquity
both in and outside the Dead Sea corpus (like most other ancient Middle
Eastern languages such as Akkadian cuneiform etc.) were essentially
vowel-less systems, and written vowels were not codified  prior to about
960AD were (the time of the Massoretes when a vowel system for Hebrew was
devised for purposes of "uniform" cantillation among the Ashkenazi clerics)
.

But some consonants performed the function of "vowels"in  Hebrew prior to
the advent of the Massoretes (e.g. "vav" was often used for letter "long o"
and "long u" and "yud" was often used for the letter "i" (as in the word
"Israel") or in forming plurals (e.g. "gOyIm"  where the letter Vav is used
for the O and Yud for the letter I)etc.

So one would have to say that in general Hebrew is really only "partially"
de-vowelled, i.e.  before 960AD and the Dead Sea Scrolls (writen between BC
290 to AD68) are just one of many examples of this scribal practice in the
ancient world (see Egyptian Heiroglyphics for example which are likewise
de-vowelled).

Also, I must also insert here that the Dead Sea Scroll Corpus is written in
several languages not just Hebrew, including: a. Paleo-Hebrew (i.e. copies
of the Torah etc. written out with Phoenician letters), b. a form of early
proto-Mishnaic "Jerusalemite" Hebrew (e.g. fragments of  the Wisdom of Ben
Sirach, or fragments of I Henoch, etc..), c. Aramaic (e.g. the Genesis
Apocryphon) and even  d.  in Greek (fragments of copies of the Psalms and
the Torah have been found in Greek as well as Greek "code" words found in
the Copper Scroll outlining the various locations of the contents of the
Jerusalem Temple Treasury).

More to the point with the VMS thread here, and to me a very interesting
fact which pertains to our immediate discussion is that, curiously, some
Dead Sea Scrolls are written in Cypher-Code, i.e. in a simple "cryptic"
alphabetic replacement code, e.g. the fragments of a scroll known as the
"Admonitions to the Sons of the Dawn" found in Cave 4 at Qumran (4Q298
Cryptic) where each  Aramaic letter is replaced by a totally different
replacement letter-symbol.

These symbols bear a curious resemblance at times to the Voynich sigils,
e.g. the system used in 4Q298 for the Aramaic letter "vav" closely resembles
the VMS sigil for EVA [f]; also the Cryptic 4Q298 code for the Aramaic
letter "Quph" is the same as the Voynich sigil for EVA [d] (i.e. resembling
the modern Arabic numeral 8); the Cryptic 4Q298 coded letter for Aramaic
"tav" resembles the VMS sigil for EVA [p]:  the Crytpic 4Q298 coded letter
for Aramaic " 'ayin " is similar to the VMS sigil for EVA [c]; 4Q298 Cryptic
Aramaic letter "Kaph" is the same symbol as the VMS sigil for EVA [o]: 4Q298
Cryptic sign for Aramaic "mem" is similar to the VMS sigil for EVA [m} and
finally, the EVA [q] which resembles a tall numeral "4" is similar to the
4Q298 Cryptic coded letter for Aramaic "tet".

This may suggest (but only "may" suggest) that the originator of the VMS
sigil-cypherbet might have had some contact with Aramaic/Hebrew Caballistic
coded cyphers used in antiquity and developed/morphed over time through the
Middle Ages (even the Dead Sea Scroll sect re-emerged as the Karaites before
the year 1000).

Discussion anyone?

DG

donald.goodell@xxxxxxxxx





----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Roux" <lroux@xxxxxxx>
To: <vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2003 2:29 PM
Subject: VMs: decryption document


> I put together a document on some encryption methods and how they
> pertain to the Voynich.  It can be found at
>
> http://web.syr.edu/~laroux/voyencrypdoc.html
>
> While I have seen several sites that attack Voynich from a  particular
> decryption method, I have not seen a more general one that shows
> different methods and how they relate to the Voy Manuscript.
>
> I am NOT an expert in cryptology, so be kind.  I am sure I am not using
> the official terminology, etc.  And this is a work in progress.  Note
> that I am doing this more for my own reference and a way to focus my
> ideas than to be the "go-to" reference (or I would be more careful to
> learn the correct terminology, etc.
>
> Any comments are welcome.  If people really HATE it then I can delete it
> <grin>.
>
> I'll be adding more info (links to the various pages, other schemes,
> etc) if the page survives initial review....
>
>
> ******************************
> Larry Roux
> Syracuse University
> lroux@xxxxxxx
> *******************************
> ______________________________________________________________________
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