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Re: VMs: Conclusions - Algorithm?

Hi everyone

At 13:52 20/06/2003 +0200, Petr Kazil wrote: 
Nick wrote:
I think it is suggestive of a pair cipher encoding vowel-less text (with the
vowel-like half typically preceding the non-vowel-like half, to confuse the
issue).

*****

I have some trouble understanding this.

OK, I can see how my (obviously far too casual) description can cause some trouble. I don't have a complete answer to the cipher as yet - just a load of related (or perhaps inter-related) ideas. Some background explanation might help you get the whole picture...

What would a 15th Century European (ie, not Ottoman) wax tablet shorthand have looked like? We know what Tironian notae looked like (before), and we know what Bright's Characterie looked like (after) - but we're interested in that Quattrocento lull between the two.

There are three basic mechanisms for building a shorthand system:
(1) single-stroke characters (writing each letter fast)
(2) abbreviations (ie, notarikon etc) within the basic language
(3) extra symbols to stand in for groups of letters

My idea is that the first stage of the cipher system was to write the text down in whatever form of shorthand was in use at the time. The only documented European system of the time I've found was from a Mr Radcliff (or Ratcliffe) of Bristol, whose system I described here (12Aug2002) as:-

Radcliff's system was based on aggressive textual reduction, discarding
vowels and stopping words short once it was apparent what they were:
the Lord's Prayer, for example, became:

                Our Fth wch rt n hvn ; hlwd b y Nm
                Y Kgdm cm Y wl b dn n rth z it s n Hvn

Now: this isn't *quite* as simple as discarding vowels, but it's not far off. With a bit of practice, I'm sure you could build up a real expertise in using a system like this. Combine this kind of abbreviation with single-stroke characters, and you've got a fairly state-of-the-art shorthand, as (probably) used by the humanist Quattrocento scribes.

Here's some plaintext from a contemporary Italian treatise, talking about baths & spas:-
Dice chequando sia acqua chetengha disalnitro ouero disolfo
diseccha catarro ma suinolep'una bora op'una hora op'una
mezza bagnare p'quindia di aurnopia apara lona & molte
altre malanie.

Let's try an approximation of this shorthand stage one:-

        1       =>      ch
        q       =>      qu
        2       =>      gh
        3       =>      gn
        4       =>      p' (= per)

        dc 1qnd si aq 1tn2 dslntr vro dslf
        dsc1 ctr m sinl4n br o4n hr o4n
        mz b3r 4qnd d urnp pr ln & mlt
        ltr mln

This is almost in code already - IIRC, it was Caesar who once asked for reports to be sent in shorthand, as these were almost impenetrable except to the scribes.

Stage two, then, is to expand this out using a paired cipher. By that, I mean a cipher whereby single input letters get expanded out to a pair of letters in a fake alphabet (a good number of ciphers circa 1450 do this). I'll only do the first two words (or else it'll get way too boring):-

        d       =       ot
        c       =       ol
        1       =       an
        q       =       ee
        n       =       dy

otol aneedy

So: we've gone from "dice chequando" to "otoe aneedy" - and anyone trying to decode it is automatically looking at the wrong alphabet for clues (ie, they've been misdirected!)

My suspicion is that this is the basis upon which the coding system is built - and, until it's tested properly, it may even prove to be pretty much exactly as simple as this. "dain daiin" I think is a separate kind of abbreviation, possibly also from the shorthand (but who knows) - but not part of this system per se.

Finally: I think the spaces naturally arise from the system's behaviour, but probably not as a result of being between words. Roy Bhaskar talks about the negativity of spaces between words (space as an absence of letter), and I suspect it's important not to get too attached to them as a likely structural artefact arising from the semantics. Stay critical, and stay real! :-)

Hope this is a help! :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling..... 


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