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VMs: Notes on f116v.1-2
Dear members of the VMS list,
I am a newbie. My name is Gregor Damschen, I am a German classicist and
professional philosopher. First of all I would like to say that I am deeply
impressed by the work you have done on this exciting MS over the last
decade. Even if someone find out some day that there is no meaning behind
the VMS, your work will be a rich treasure and unique example of the
manifold methods that rational beings have to test when they want to
understand an (at first sight) completely unknown text. Second, I have to
admit that I do not have a solution for the VMS as a whole (particularly
because I fear the "Curse of the Voynich" discovered by Elmar in February
this year).
As my first step in this list I would like to demystify lines 1 and 2 on
folio 116v a little bit (on the "German" lines 0 and 3 maybe later). I
challenge some assumptions partly hold by Newbold, Brumbaugh, and as far as
I can see by many members of this list. I put forward the following instead:
1. Line f.116v.1 is in plain Latin, it does not contain so-called "null
letters" ("con ola" and the letters in between "multas" and "portas").
2. Lines f.116v.1 and f.116v.2 can be read as a Latin distich.
3. There is a possible connection between the first words of line 1 and
"oror.sheey" of line 3.
My considerations come in five parts: 1. Reading, 2. Words and Grammar, 3.
Possible Translations and Interpretations, 4. Metrics, and 5. the (possible)
Connection between line 1 and "oror.sheey".
Sorry for the length of the following, also for my English.
Best regards,
Gregor Damschen
NOTES ON VMS-FOLIO 116v.1-2
PART I: READING
After an intense look at lines 1 and 2 of f.116v (since 1998 I work on a
Yale copyflo and microfilm, now on the MrSids), I read:
f.116v.1: + archicon ola dabas + multas + te + car cere + portas + # +
f.116v.2: six + marix + morix + vix + abta + ma+ria +
[# is probably a "M"; "marix morix" could be "mavix movix" or "marix movix"]
Many of you know Latin and Greek very well. However, for those who are not
familiar with these languages allow a few notes on this reading.
PART II: WORDS AND GRAMMAR
1. archicon
"archicon" is nom. sing., acc. sing. or gen. plur. of ancient Greek
"archikos" which means I. 1. "of/for rule", "royal", 2. "fit for rule", 3.
"dominant", "souvereign"; II. "belonging to archai" [i.e. origins, first
principles, elements, powers, GD]; III. "primal", "original" --- cf.
Liddell-Scott-Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. archikos, p. 253.
2. ola
2.1 Latin "ola" is voc., nom. sing. or abl. sing. and mean "jar", "pot",
"cinerary urn" ("ola" for "olla", ae f. or for "aula", ae f.). Then
"archicon ola" probably means "jar of that which belongs to the principles
(origins, elements)" (= soul?, = pre-socratic Empedocles' jar of elements?).
2.2 "ola" could be an acc. or nom. plur. of ancient Greek (to) olon; ta ola
[speak: "ta hóla"] means "all things", "the all", "the universe". Thus
"archicon ola dabas" could mean "you gave the universe of that which belongs
to the principles (origins, elements)".
2.3 If the reading "archicon" fails, three more alternatives come to light:
2.3.1 "con ola" = "cum ola", whereby "ola" is abl. sing. ("with the jar")
2.3.2 "conula", ae f.: the plant polion / polium (cf. Ps-Apuleius de herbis
57: Graeci quidam polion, alii etc. Latini conula; Martialis polium,
neptunia). This is the plant Teucrium polium or polygermander. There are
pictures available under:
http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?stat=BROWSE_IMG&query_src=photos_browseimgs_plant_sci&where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Teucrium+polium
2.3.3 I never seriously checked it, but there is a Gaelic or Irish legend of
a Fountain of Youth, the Well of Conula / Connla, on the net:
http://www.theos-world.com/archives/show.php?NAME=tw200104&PATH=txt&DESC=April%202001%20Issue
(Just a wild guess: "archiconola" = "chief Well of Connla"?).
3. dabas
2nd pers. sing. of "dare" ("you gave").
4. multas
4.1 acc. plur. fem. from "multus", a, um ("many" sc. portas -- note the nice
hyperbaton!)
4.2 acc. plur. from "multa", ae f. ("penalties")
4.3 2nd pers. sing. from "multare" ("you punishes")
5. te
acc. or abl. sing. of "tu" ("you", "thee")
6. carcere
"carcere" is abl. sing. of "carcer", ris m. which is I. "jail", "prison",
II. "cave", "the underworld (especially as a place for punishments)", "a
cage for birds or beasts", "a trap for catching them", "the body regarded as
imprisoning the spirit", III. "the barriers at the beginning of a race
course, the starting point of the couse" --- cf. Oxford Latin Dictionary
s.v. carcer, p. 276.
7. portas
7.1 acc. plur. of "porta", ae f. ("doors", "gates")
7.2 2nd pers. sing. of "portare" ("you carries (something)", "you transports
(something)")
8. six
"six" = "sex" = 6
9. marix morix
This sounds like a wordplay, a counting-out rhyme, a spell, a prayer.
9.1 "marix" maybe is derived from "maria" / "Maria" ("seas" / "Mary"), or
from "maritare" ("marry"). It may also be derived from "mas", ris m.: "male"
(of human beings, other species or applied to uneven numbers). If applied to
uneven numbers, then we should read "marix movix" (from "movere") -- "uneven
number moving " (!). Perhaps it is "six (times) uneven number move"?
9.2 "morix" could be derived from "mori" ("to die")
9.3 It is remarkable that we get Latin words from "marix morix." when we
assume "a" instead of "x": "maria moria via." where "moria" is "aquae sali
conficiendo aptae receptabulum; résevoir d'eau propre à fabriquer le
sel" --- cf. W.-H- Maigne d'Arnis, Lexicon manuale ad scriptores mediae et
infimae latinitatis, s.v. moria, column 1480.
10. vix
adv. "hardly", "with difficulty", "not easily"
11. abta
"abta" = "apta"
nom. / abl. sing. fem. (sc. Mary, see below) or nom. / acc. plur. neutr.
(sc. seas, see below) of "aptus", a, um: I. "bound", "made up by uniting",
"composed", "fitted together"; II. "prepared", "ready", "adapted or
adaptable"; III. "orderly", "efficient", "good", "useful", "apt".
12. maria
12.1 voc., nom. or abl. of the proper name "Mary" (note that in the nom. of
Latin "Maria", ae f. all syllables are short --- cf. Georges, Ausfuehrliches
lateinisch-deutsches Handwoerterbuch, 2nd vol., column 815).
12.2 nom. or acc. plur. of "mare", is n. ("seas")
PART III: POSSIBLE TRANSLATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS
You see, there is still a plethora of possible translations and
interpretations.
Some will move into cryptological directions:
- archicon: elements, numbers, letters;
- carcer: something hidden, Porta-tables or Polybius-squares, fences and
rows;
- multas portas: Porta-tables, different ways of encoding and decoding;
- six: a pointer to the square length (Polybius), a pointer to the changing
of tables (Porta), to a ROT-6 cipher or to a fence with 6 rows;
- marix movix: uneven number moving;
- abta maria: "composed / ready / good / apt MARIA", a password, a
Maria-code.
Some will move in theological and philosophical directions:
- archicon: elements, principles;
- archicon ola: "jar of that which belongs to the principles (origins,
elements)" (= the soul, Empedocles mixing bowl of elements, or (if Greek):
"the universe of that which belongs to the principles (origins, elements)";
- dabas, multas, portas: "you gave, you punishes, you carries";
- carcer: the body regarded as imprisoning the soul, the soul itself as a
vessel of the thoughts and ideas ("archicon ola") bound in a human body
("carcer");
- multas te carcere: self-punishment in the underworld as a place for
punishments;
- multas portas: many gates in the human body for the soul;
- morix: death, dying;
- maria: virgin Mary; or seas as picture for life.
This plethora of possible translations and interpretations is a remarkable
feature of the two lines. I think it is possible that the writer intended to
write a text which allows more than one meaning. But how then we can decide
which interpretation is right, if any?
PART IV: METRICS
In such situations classicists often look to the metre of a text. Maybe also
in our situation we can go a step further when we consider metrics. Latin
speakers do like words bound by metre, and since it was earlier remarked
that lines 1 and 2 of VMS 116v could be a spell or a prayer, metrically
bound verses seem highly probably. Is there any grammatical interpretation
which allows perfect Latin verses? I do think so.
The most famous ancient metres are the hexameter and the elegiac distich (a
hexameter plus a pentameter), and line 1 makes a perfect hexameter with a
penthemimeres and a hephthemimeres:
f.116v.1: + árchicon óla dabás + multás + te + cárcere + pórtas +
In Latin there are two different types of long syllables: syllables long by
nature (like "te", or "ol" in "ola"), and syllables long by position (like
"port" in "portas" where the short vowel is lengthened by the two consonants
"rt", whereas "porta" by nature has two short syllables, or "vix" which is
short by nature but long by position because of "x".) In line 1 we have the
following metric structure (L=long, S=short, N=by nature, P=by position):
ar(SN)chi(SN)con(SN) [if "archicon" is acc. or. nom. sing.] ol(LN)a(SN) [if
"ola" is voc. or nom. sing.] da(SN)bas(LP) + mult(LP)as(LNP) + te(LN) +
carc(LP)er(SN)e(SN) + port(LP)as(LN) +
Now let us look at line 2. It is a perfect pentameter if we assume that "ma"
in "marix" and "mo" in "morix" are long syllables and "abta (= apta) maria"
is abl. sing.:
f.116v.2: síx + maríx + moríx +// víx + abtá + ma+riá +
So, lines f116v.1 and 2 together are a perfect Latin distich:
f.116v.1: + árchicon óla dabás / + multás / + te + cárcere + pórtas +
f.116v.2: síx + maríx + moríx +// víx + abtá + ma+riá +
I think that this is a real step towards a better understanding of these
lines, but I know that this reading can only be a first step (although a
step not done before). From a grammatical and metrical standpoint we can say
that "archicon" must be a nom. or an acc. and "ola" a voc. or a nom. But
"multas" and "portas" keep their ambiguity, and "marix morix" are still
somewhat alien elements.
PART V: A POSSIBLE CONNECTION BETWEEN ARCHICON AND oror.sheey
The reading "archicon" maybe has another exciting clue: When we look down at
line 3 we see Voynichese "oror.sheey". For me the first letter is more an
"a", and the second "e" is different from the first, so I read somewhat like
"aror chicon", whereby I interpret "c9" (EVA: "ey") as Latin abbreviation
"con". Exactly under "archicon" from line 1 then stands "orchicon" from line
3. Pure chance? I think it is probable that f116v.1 is a try to "translate"
a line in the VMS -- a "translation" by someone skilled in Latin who
expected all these theological-philosophical or cryptological things. But
which line he or she tried to translate?
Look at the first picture on the left side of f.116v. There is some strange
thing, a vessel, a jar, a potifer? (from line f.116v.0?), a syringe (as
someone guessed some time ago), a libra? I do not know what it is (by the
way the three letters on its left bottom look like German "lab" - rennet?),
but it looks like a thing on page 76v. Left to line 76v.19 we see a woman
who holds such a thing. In line 19 we can read in EVA: or.ar.sheey.otar...
EVA "t" looks like a "L" or double "L", so someone could read: "ar chicon
ola...". (Filling the gaps in line 19 with the letters from line 20 direct
under the gaps and assuming that the "translator" guessed a Latin text ---
perhaps he reads "cc" as "a", examples for this gives Cappelli ---, one can
probably read further ".dabas multas te carcere portas...") If this is no
dead end at all, the next stept would be to ask from which line the
"translator" has "six marix morix...".
Gregor
----------------------------------------------
Institut fuer Philosophie
Martin-Luther-Universitaet Halle-Wittenberg
Schleiermacherstr. 1
06114 Halle
Germany
E-mail: gregor.damschen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.phil.uni-halle.de
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