Re: Tachygraphy : was RE: VMs: F66r

["GC" <gc-@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jeff wrote:
> I would be VERY interested to see your transcription. One question I have
to
> ask is your opinion on verbose groupings. ie 'ol' or 'or' that seem to be
> glued
> together a lot.

The best way to view my transcription at present is to download the
following TrueType font, and apply it to the quire text files.  (If I
remember, IE with security settings above medium won't allow you to download
a .ttf file, so you may have to alter your security settings temporarily to
get this file.)   I wouldn't waste my time on the large pdf's since the
transcription will be undergoing a change soon.  Input is appreciated, of
course.  Many of these folios (at least 30) will be suffering little or no
alteration, since they're pretty straight forward and unambiguous.   There's
the occasional "cc" ambiguity that throws of the numbering by one, but there
were work-arounds for that before we had the sid files, so most of these
should have already been straightened out.


http://voynichinfo.com/vgbt/xcrptn/vgbt.ttf

http://voynichinfo.com/vgbt/xcrptn/q1.txt

http://voynichinfo.com/vgbt/xcrptn/q2.txt

http://voynichinfo.com/vgbt/xcrptn/q3.txt

http://voynichinfo.com/vgbt/xcrptn/q4.txt

http://voynichinfo.com/vgbt/xcrptn/q5.txt

http://voynichinfo.com/vgbt/xcrptn/q6.txt

http://voynichinfo.com/vgbt/xcrptn/q7.txt

As to the groups <ol> and <or>, I suppose you can add "89", "4o", "8oe",
"8am", etc.  At first glance something like "oeoeoe" boggles the mind.   A
teaspoon of common sense added to a cup of coffee makes one realize very
soon that "8am 8am 8am" can't mean the same word each time, so these groups
have replaceable meanings.  I don't consider these verbose, as in two or
three glyphs standing for a single letter, but each glyph standing as a
replacement for a single letter each time it occurs.    This suggests
there's a whole lot of movement going on, so the scheme must be relatively
simple and logical in order to keep track of it, you would think.
Unfortunately, not as orderly as the man would have liked.

There are a lot of markings on these pages that are designed specifically to
keep track of the writer's place in the scheme of things, and this is also
where our happy little half-spaces come into play, being placed usually
after two or three glyphs, and sometimes as many as four.  These little
spaces mark a change, as do the legitimate word spaces.   The "markup"
system itself wasn't fully developed on the first folio written, f1v (f1r
was filled in later, in more than one sitting).  In fact these marks take a
little time to develop themselves, probably a period when the author was
working out such a system of notation in his mind.  By the time you hit the
[b1] bifolios things are relatively well developed.

If you accept this possibility then you realize you have a lot of
information on these pages that is
not found in traditional cipher.   He tells you when he makes a change, and
also informs you when a glyph is not usual for the position or the change in
question.  The changes (by this definition) occur every two or three glyphs,
and the longest extends a whole word.  This short a period and the inclusion
of the markup system is so unusual that no one really looks for it, and he
figured that if he kept things small, they'd stay unnoticed.  Unfortunately
for him I have a small enough mind to comprehend these little things. :-)

There's a lot in my transcription that was omitted because the changes to
the glyph were eye-catching, but not categorically a new glyph.  This time
I'll include extensive notes on each glyph in question, location and
position, and why it should or should not be considered in this markup
system.  All you have to do is look for awhile and you'll find the ones I'm
talking about.  One of the EVA <s> glyphs with a squiggly hook coming off
the "c" base glyph, for instance.  It's a pause, a hesitation, and then a
deliberate alteration by the writer which can no longer be blamed on the pen
against the grain of the vellum.  Others are errors, corrections, etc., but
even a few of these become part of the pattern by their repetition, and
there is always some meaningful information to be gleaned from a single
error, correction or erasure, no matter how minor.

That's it in a nutshell, Jeff, the core of my understanding.  This guy
didn't leave all this stuff for us, he left it for himself so he could read
the pages back at a later date.  In doing so he left us an incredible
insight into the manuscript.

GC

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