Re: VMs: fake letters

[Nick Pelling <nickpelling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi KM,

At 21:19 14/07/2005 -0500, Knox Mix wrote:
> I was convinced the first time around. The possibility remains that, aside 
> from abbreviated endings, some letters were intentionally omitted because 
> they were not essential to reading the script.

It's certainly possible: though the VMs' small working alphabet (whether 
fake or not :-) ) makes it less likely that nulls are present there. For 
example, a good number of the more complex Tranchedino ciphers have upwards 
of 100 symbols - plenty of room for nulls there.

> >the micro-structure of the order of the underlying text 
> seems >consistent with a yet-to-be determined rule-based grammar of 
> sorts, >whether further enciphered or not. Essentially, there seems to 
> be >structure beneath the (fake alphabet) surface...
>
> I understand "underlying text" as referring to a grammatical text from 
> which the script was derived. If that is right I am not sure I understand 
> the statement. If the overall thought here is that the VMS hints at being 
> so derived, I cannot disagree with what I have read in support of that. 
> Anything you can add would be helpful.

The underlying text may be a real language, or a shorthand, or a (probably 
pre-Trithemius) cipher, or a code, or some combination of them: all of 
which are "languages" in the loosest sense. :-)

> --------
> [Do you] have some feeling of the relationship of the quires to each 
> other? I am not prepared to say why but this is my sense of it. The 
> letters to the left represent ordinary texts in English that are 
> "different" from one another on a scale of a-z. Very roughly. And assuming 
> most texts would be in the range of F-R. From <V> in that group to Quires 
> 15, 17, & 19 is a good stretch. Quire 13 is the most "different". Quires 5 
> & 6 are as much "like" the preceding quires as they are to other 
> "B-dialect" quires. All variable depending on what aspect is considered. 
> Overall, though, it has the "feel" of influence by writer and subject 
> matter. What do you think? Anyone?

FWIW, I don't think that the contents of the Herbal quires are bound in the 
same way as they were when they were created. Which would somewhat muddy 
the waters here. :-o

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


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