VMs: Re: [VMS] Goat vs. sheep, Sagittarius

["GC" <gc-@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jorge,

My first flash that you actually understand that the information in the
Voynich speaks volumes on the author.  If you don't mind my paraphrasing,
you've made note that the social status of the author must not be moved up,
but must be moved down relative to the the known social order.
GC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jorge Stolfi" <stolfi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2004 7:05 PM
Subject: VMs: [VMS] Goat vs. sheep, Sagittarius


>
>   > [Pam:] I think it was Dana Scott who called the two young
>   > animals, light and dark "goats".  I am very inclined
>   > to agree.  Sheep don't have dew claws, those tiny hard
>   > horns above the hooves; goats do.  And those dew claws
>   > are very clearly depicted on each foot.
>
> No dispute about them being goats. But, as Pam observed in a later
> message, that is only one of the oddities in the VMS zodiac
> illustrations. My "reading" of those discrepancies is that the author
> wanted to draw the Western symbols for zodiac signs, but had only an
> imprecise notion of them.
>
> For Aries, in particular: perhaps "Aries" had been translated
> in his native language into a word that meant "goat", or
> "goat or sheep". (Just as "corn" in English means "wheat or maize".)
>
> Perhaps he was not very familiar with sheep, and assumed they were
> just a type of goat. (Like someone assuming that the panda is a type
> of bear).
>
> Perhaps the only "Aries-like" model he could copy from (in flesh or
> image) was a goat, and he was not aware that in Western culture the
> sheep and goat have very different symbolic associations,
> and thus one cannot be used for the other.
>
> The same things can be said of Cancer, only with "crab" and "lobster"
> (or "crayfish") replacing "sheep" and "goat". And, if it was OK to
> draw *two* fish for Pisces, why not draw *two* crustaceans for Cancer?
>
> Ditto for Sagittarius: he may have relied on the literal translation
> of the name as "archer", unaware that the name refers to a specific
> archer who was a centaur.
>
> Note that this by itself does not imply an exotic origin for the VMS,
> only that the author was not someone immersed in mainstream European
> scholarly culture, but rather some sort of "outsider" trying to
> "connect" to that culture in some sense -- perhaps a foreign scholar,
> yes, but perhaps also a poor student from a backward province, a
> merchant aspiring to become a philosopher, whatever.
>
> But this is hardly a new observation...
>
> All the best,
>
> --stolfi
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