VMs: Re: Gallows mega-theory...

["Jeff" <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

And just for the hell of it here is my contribution.



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dchaiin.cthey.qotchey.taiin.cthory -

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qotchy.shetchy.ckhol.cheey.daiin.dainl -

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otchor.sho.tcheey.scheey.daiin.dain.or -

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Nick Pelling incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote
16 December 2003 09:10
Subject: VMs: Gallows mega-theory...


> Hi everyone,
>
> Here's my gallows mega-theory, which I've been piecing together for the
> last 6 months. Any suggestions as to how this might be turned into
testable
> hypotheses will be gratefully received! :-)
>
> Essentially, there are two frequently-appearing types of gallows -
> t-gallows and k-gallows. We also see a fair number of p-gallows, which
> often appear in stylistically well-defined pairs (typically two-thirds
> along the top line of a paragraph/page) containing anomalous text, known
as
> "Neal keys". Another well-known anomaly is that the behaviour of the first
> letter of each line of text can be unpredictable - often looking as though
> it is "glued" onto the start of a "real" word. Gallows (particularly t-
and
> k-) also have a consistently high appearance rate across all lines of all
> folios. This theory seeks to build a coherent explanation for gallows,
> linking all these properties together.
>
> My suggestion is that p-gallows pairs [ie, horizontal Neal keys] (and
> occasionally f-gallows), and sequences of line-initial characters [ie,
> vertical Neal keys] may well define *two-character substitution ciphers,
> local to a single line*, while the (more frequent) t- and k-gallows *use
or
> refer to* those local ciphers.
>
> You might alternatively understand this as a *local steganographic
> transposition cipher*, whereby the two most prominent letters (perhaps
> consonants?) within a line are extracted, placed elsewhere on the page (ie
> within horizontal or vertical Neal keys), and then replaced with either
> t-gallows or k-gallows.
>
> That is, if the two most common word-initial letters (perhaps disregarding
> common prepositions like "con-") for a particular line are "R" and "S",
> then *for that line only* t-gallows might well stand in for "R" and
> k-gallows for "S". To complete the picture, "R" and "S" would be encoded,
> one as a a line-initial character and the other sequentially within a
> horizontal Neal key (though ATM I don't know which way round these go).
>
> Let's deconstruct a typical page with a well-defined horizontal key - the
> split gallows on f35r:-
>
> cth [oo r choly] cthy choty char dy - // Neal key bracketed, ornate
t-gallows
> qokeeaiin chokaiin qotchy daiin -
> dchaiin cthey qotchey taiin cthory -
> qotchy shetchy ckhol cheey daiin dainl -
> otchor sho tcheey scheey daiin dain or -
> schaiin char chan daiin -
> shosaiin tchor choky -
> qokchy kykaiin daiin =
>
> I suspect that this top-line (horizontal) Neal key actually contains 8
> characters in an only-very-slightly verbose cipher (where "or"/"ol"/"qo"
> code for individual letters) (naturally, "ch" and "sh" are individual
> letters too), each corresponding to a separate line of the (8-line)
paragraph:-
> ch o or ch ol y ch y
>
> The line-initial characters (and hence the 8-element vertical key) are:-
> (ch?) qo d qo o s sh qo
>
> However, if the encoder wanted to refer to both horizontal and vertical
> keys within the very first line, the system would not allow the horizontal
> Neal key to begin at the left edge of the line... I strongly suspect that
> this is why the Neal key typically starts two-thirds of the way along the
> top line, so as to prevent the two keys overlapping at the top left
character.
>
> I believe that all this is sufficient to explain Neal keys (their contents
> and position), split gallows, single-leg gallows, and line-initial
> anomalies... but I still can't read it. I therefore suspect that these two
> keys are encoded via (at least one) separate (global) replacement ciphers.
>
> My best current guess is that these ciphers (for the horizontal and
> vertical keys) are trickily encoded in the various zodiacal volvelle
> labels... but perhaps we can work them out regardless. :-)
>
> While this isn't actually a (computationally) complex system per se, its
> property of locality (which gives two replacements within a line) would be
> extremely cryptologist-unfriendly - especially when combined (as I believe
> it is) with other simple ciphers and steganographic practices.
>
> What do you think? :-)
>
> Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....
>
> PS: I don't believe there are any cryptographic / historical precedents
for
> this - unless you know differently? :-o
>
>
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