Re: VMs: Rohonczi Codex

[Nick Pelling <nickpelling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

Note that at least one previous owner has tried to find a kind of 
substitution cipher here:-
	http://www.dr-savescu.com/codex/original/optm_112.jpg
	http://www.dr-savescu.com/codex/original/optm_113.jpg
	http://www.dr-savescu.com/codex/original/optm_114.jpg

My best guess here is that (as I believe is probably true for the VMs) the 
Rohonczi Codex is a combination of shorthand (from the large number of 
tokens evident) and cipher (because tokens in its text often appear in 
clusters - that is, the chances of a symbol reappearing on the same page 
superficially appears to be higher than the chances of it appearing on a 
different page).

Again, I suspect that the RC remains similarly undecoded because of that 
combination of shorthand (which obscures the underlying language structure) 
and its novel cipher system (which probably makes it resistant to 
simple-minded cryptological tools).

All the same, I don't believe the crypto component of its structure is 
likely to be as multi-layered as that within the VMs: but (from the RC's 
known Hungarian provenance), a strong candidate for its underlying language 
is perhaps more likely to be (abbreviated) Hungarian. Having learnt a 
little Hungarian a long time ago, that fills me with something not 
dissimilar to dread. :-o

GC has often noted on-list that early modern Continental shorthands were 
most likely used to take down (typically Protestant) sermons: and I suspect 
that Timothy Bright's characterie was most likely inspired by a wax tablet 
shorthand he saw in use in his trip to Paris. So, the (apparently 
religious) content of the Rohonczi Codex shouldn't be a big surprise to us 
if it falls in that general tradition.

I would further agree that it seems to be written right-to-left: anyone 
wishing to crack its secrets might do well (a) to find plausible candidates 
for a numbering system, or perhaps (b) to collect together the labels from 
the pictures and see what they suggest.

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


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