linguistic missing links: instruction in decrypting

©2017CopyrightGerardE.Cheshire.May31,2017.doi:www.sciencesurvey.link/Linguistic-missing-links

1

ScienceSurvey(2017)1,1-47.October11,2017.

Linguisticmissinglinks:instructionindecrypting,translatingand

transliteratingtheonlydocumentknowntousebothproto-Romance

languageandproto-Italicsymbolsforitswritingsystem.

GERARDEDWARDCHESHIREUniversityofBristol

Abstract.

This paper provides the solution to understanding the hitherto unknown writing

systemusedforthemanuscriptlistedasMS408attheBeineckeLibrary,YaleUniversity.

The writing system uses symbols, punctuation, grammar and language that are each

unique. Themanuscript is not encrypted, in the sense that its authormade an effort to

concealthecontentsofthemanuscript,ashasbeenpresumedbysomescholars.Instead,it

iscodeonlyinthesensethatthemodernreaderneedstobeversedinthecalligraphicand

linguisticrulestobeabletotranslateandreadthetexts.Furthermore,indiscoveringits

writingsystem,itbecameapparentthatthemanuscriptisofinvaluableimportancetothe

study of the evolution of the Romance languages and the scheme of Italic letters and

associatedpunctuationmarksnowcommonplaceinthoseandothermodernlanguages.In

short;itisrevealedtobetheonlyknowndocumentbothwritteninVulgarLatin,orproto-

Romance,andusingproto-Italicsymbols.Theoriginaltitleforthemanuscript,givenbyits

femaleauthor, is:Whatoneneedstobesuretoacquirefortheevilssetinone’sfate.It isa

book offering homeopathic advice and instruction towomen of court onmatters of the

heart, of sexual congress, of reproduction, of motherhood and of the physical and

emotionalcomplicationsthatcanarisealongthewaythroughlife.

Keywords:Mediaevalmanuscript,VulgarLatin,KoinêLatin,proto-Italicsymbols,proto-Romance,

decryption,translation,transliteration,palaeography,codicology.

Introduction.

BeineckemanuscriptMS408hasgarneredacertainlevelofnotorietyinscholarlyandpopular

circles,becauseitscodinghasremainedunsolvedsinceitsearliestknowndescriptionby

GeorgiusBarschiusin1637(Barschius,1637;Kircher,1639)whowascourtalchemisttoRudolf

IIofPrague(1552-1612).Sincethenmanypeoplehaveinvestedtimeandeffortinattemptingto

readitstexts(D’impario,1976;Rugg,2004;Pelling,2006).Perhapsinevitably,thishasledtoall

kindsofspeculationastoitsoriginandmeaning.Forexample,ithasbeensuggestedthatitmight

beamysteriousbookofblackmagicorsecretknowledge(Clemens&Harkness,2016);thatit


2

waswrittenbyafamoushistoricalfigurewhowishedtoremainanonymous(Brumbaugh,1975);

thatitistheworkofanalienvisitortoearth(Cummings,2016);thatitisanelaboratehoax

(Schinner,2007:Rugg&Taylor,2016);andthatanantiquarianwrotethemanuscriptin

gibberishassomekindoffiendishpracticaljoke(Barlow,2010).Curiously,notonetheory

suggestsafemalehand.

Therehavealsobeeninnumerablescientificanalysesconducted,basedonthefrequencyand

patterningofthesymbols,wordsandsoon,whichhaveledtovariousconclusions,butnonehas

succeededinfindingthesolution(Guy,1991;Guy,1997;Landini,2001;Rugg,2004;Williams,

2010;Garel,2011;Bauer,2012;Amancioetal,2013;Montemurro&Zanette,2013).Curiously,

thereisalsoatranscribedversionofthemanuscriptthatusesincorrectidentificationofthe

symbols(Reeds,2010).Therehavebeenconferencesdedicatedtothemanuscript(Schmeh,

2013;Reddy&Knight,2011).Variousbookshavebeenwrittenaboutthemanuscriptinboth

non-fictionandfiction(Kennedy&Churchill,2006;Joven,2006).Itisevenrumouredthatthe

CIAandFBIhaveattemptedtosolvethecode,althoughitisunclearwhattheirmotivationmight

havebeen.Thegeneralconsensusthereforeseemstobethatthecodeisunsolvable.

Infactthemanuscriptiswritteninaperfectlyordinarylanguageandissimplyatomeabout

homeopathicremediesandpractisesrelatingtothespiritualbeliefsystemoftheHighMediaeval

periodinMediterraneanEurope.Itwaswrittenwithparticularemphasisonchildbearingandthe

associatedcomplications,whichiswhythemajorityoffigurativeillustrationsareofwomen,

remediesandcharts.So,perhapsmostsurprisingly,themanuscriptisnotwrittenincodeatall,

butsimplythecontemporaneousalphabetandlanguageofitstimeandplace.Remarkably,this

factseemstohavebeenhidinginplainsightallalong.

MS408writingsystemexplained.

Thecorrectapproachtosolvingthecodewastodismissanynotionsofcovertcomplexityand

applyapragmaticlogictohowthewritingsystemmightwork:i.e.toimagineusingthewriting

systemone’sselfandtherebyidentifytherequirementsforeffectivecommunication.

Thelimitednumberofsymbolsandtheirrepeatedusethroughoutthemanuscriptimmediately

suggestedaphoneticwritingsystemforconstructingwordsfromsoundcomponents,justasone

doeswithEnglishandotherphoneticalphabet-basedlanguages.

However,thelackofpunctuationmarksinthemanuscriptalsosuggestedthatthesymbolstake

differentforms,sothatpunctuationisindicatedinauniqueway.Thus,itwouldbenecessaryto

identifyallofthesymbolsandthenseparatethemintophonetictypesorforms.This

presumptionwascorrectasitwasrevealedthatthedifferentphonemesdoindeedcomein

variousforms,rangingfromjustoneinsomecasesanduptofourinothers.


3

Forexample,therearefourformsofthephonemeorlettera:oneformisusedmid-word(the

trappeda)andasecondformusedforthebeginningorendofwords,andasasingleletterword

(thefreea).Thus,onecanapprehendintentionofpunctuationinthetext:i.e.wherewordsbegin

andend.Thereisathirdformofaincombinationwithetoformthedipthongæ,andafourth

formincombinationwithstocreatethediphthongsaandincombinationwithttocreatethe

dipthongta.

Therearealsofourformsofthephonemeorletters:thestandings(prefixandmid-word),two

versionsofthesittings(suffixes),andoneformincombinationwithatocreatethediphthongsa.

Thus,onecannotbegintotranslatethemanuscriptwithoutthisknowledge.Itshouldbenoted

though,thatthese‘rules’ofpunctuationarenotrigidlyadheredtointhemanuscript.Thereare

instanceswherethewrongformsareusedbecauseitdoesn’taffectabilitytoreadand

understandthetext–althoughitmayconfusethetranslator.

Conversely,thesymbolsforeandiareessentiallythesame,seeminglybecausetherewaslittle

differentiationinthespokenlanguage,sothisoraluncertaintywastransferredontothewritten

page.Thereforeeandicanbethoughtofasinterchangeabletosomeextent,whichwasavestige

ofClassicalLatin(Allen,2003).Thereisalsoanabsenceofdoubleconsonantsinthemanuscript

aswellastheconceptofuppercaseandlowercaseletters,whicharecluestothelanguage.

Theidentificationofthephonemesandtheirvariousformsthereforemadeitapparentthatsome

‘words’(standalonetextualunits)wereinfactphrasescontainingtwoormorewords,whilst

otherswereindeedsinglewords.Thegrammarofthemanuscriptwasthereforerevealedto

comprisecombinationsofstandalonewordsandconjoinedphrasesofwords.

Tocomplicatemattersslightly,manystand-alonewordsrequireinterpretationasphrasing

anyway,duetothesimplicityofthedictionusedandtheirstageinlinguisticevolution:i.e.a

singlewordmightworkasasentenceorpartofasentenceinabbreviationbychangingitstense.

Somearchaicphraseshavealsobecomeportmanteauwordsinmodernlanguages.

Thephonemeorlettert(anabbreviationforterminus)isusedasafull-stop[UK]orperiod[US].

ThiswascommonpracticeinClassicalLatinandevidentlyremainedpopular,untilthetwas

diminishedtothesingledotweusetoday.Wheretheterminusisabsentiteithermeansthatone

lineflowsintothenextbelow,orthattheintendedsentenceendswiththeendoftheline.

LanguageandAlphabet.

TheMS408alphabetisproto-ItalicandthelanguageisalatedialectofVulgarorKoinêLatin,

whichmarksthetransitionalpointbetweenClassicalLatinandtheRomancelanguages:i.e.it


4

mayalternativelybedescribedasLateLatinorproto-Romance.Assuch,themanuscriptwill

inevitablyhavedualvalueinincreasingscholarlyunderstandingoftheevolutionofItalicscript,

punctuation,grammarandtheevolutionofthemodernsouthernEuropeanlanguages,asthereis

littlesurvivingmaterialintheserespects:especiallyincombination.Actually,almostall

‘knowledge’ofbothproto-Italicsymbolsandproto-Romancelanguageisderivedfrominference

bycomparingpriorandlaterexamplestoarriveatpresumedtransitionalphases.Thus,MS408

willopenthedoortobothaspectsofstudy.Ultimatelyitwillprovideadictionaryofproto-

Romancewordsanddefinitions,inadditiontotheproto-Italicalphabet,punctuationandrulesof

grammar.Thus,twolinguisticmissinglinkshavebeendiscoveredsimultaneously.

Providedthehandwritinginthemanuscriptislegible,andinareasonablestateofpreservation,

itisconsistentlypossibletodecipher,andsoread,allpartsofthemanuscript.Aselectionof

randomlychosenexamplesisgivenlaterinthispaperasademonstrationthattheory

consistentlyanduniformlyfitshypothesis.

Method.

VulgarLatinwasreasonedtobethemostlikelylanguageusedfortheMS408manuscriptsimply

becauseitwasthelanguageofinformalhighsocietyinsouthernEuropeintheHighMediaeval.

Membersofcourt,nobilityandtheclergycomprisedvariousnationalities,andVulgarLatinhad

evolvedasthecommonlanguage,asadiluted,corruptedandsimplifiedversionoftheClassical

LatinthathadbeenalegacyoftheRomanEmpireacrossthecontinent.Thiswaslargelydueto

oraldistortionandslanguseofLatin,sothatthefewwhowereabletowritesimplycommitted

theircontemporaneousspokenversionofVulgarLatintothepage.

Actually,therereallyisnoothercontenderlanguagethatwouldhavebeenusedinwrittenform.

Thelackofdoubleconsonantswasalsoabiggiveaway,astheywereabandonedinVulgarLatin

andreintroducedfollowingtheMediaevalperiod.Aswellasbeingaformofinstructionon

pronunciation,thedoublingofconsonantsalsoincreasedthenumberofpotentialwords

availabletothelanguage.Uppercaseandlowercaseletterswerealsoreintroducedaspartofthis

‘LinguisticRenaissance’.

Thenaïveuseofthelanguagealsoprovidedsomeindicationastothemeaningofcertain

phoneticsymbolsandwords,whichprovidedapointofentryandexpansion:acrib,in

cryptologicalterminology.Forexample,thesamenounorverbissometimessimplyrepeatedto

provideacount,ratherthanwritingadeterminingnumeral.Thisseemstohavebeenbecausethe

MS408alphabetandgrammarweretoosimplifiedtoaccommodatecertainlinguistic

components,sotheauthorwasforcedtoimprovise.Or,perhapstheauthorhadverylimited

VulgarLatinvocabulary,asalinguisticforeigner.


5

Thusitwaspossibletouseaprocessofreciprocalanalysisandeliminationtoidentifythe

meaningofthesymbolsandwordsinunison.Withoutthetwocounterpointsofreferenceit

wouldnothavebeenpossibletoperformthementalcalculationsrequiredtodecipherthecode

presentedbythesymbolsandtheirpatternsofuse.Onemightthinkofitasakindofcognitive

triangulation,sothatinterplaybetweenthetwopresumedfactorseventuallyprovidedthe

coordinatesofthethirdfactorbyrepeatedadjustment.Italsoaffirmedthatthetwo

counterpointswerecorrectinthemselves,sothatamutualdynamicwasinoperation.

Thereisalsosomethingtobesaidforpreciseobservation,asthedifferentsymbolsareoften

quitesimilartooneanotherintheirdesign,yetalsoquitevariedintheirexecutiononthepage,

sothatperceivedoverlapoccursandconfuses.However,onceonedistinguishesthemand

develops‘aneye’forthem,thenidentificationbecomesroutine,providedthetextisclearly

readable.Whereitisnotclearlyreadable,thereareoftencontextualandvisualpointerstohelp

inarrivingatalikelytranslation.Animportantpartoftheprocessisactuallycopyingthesymbols

ontopapercalligraphicallywithanItalicpen,togetafeelfortheirlinearexecution:i.e.justhow

theauthorusedthequillandinktoformthesymbols.Thatway,onecanunderstandthenuances

ofthetextandimproveone’sabilityatidentifyingthesymbolscorrectly,eveniftheyareunclear

orincomplete.ThiswashowtheMS408fontwascreatedforuseinthispaper.

So,findingthesolutiontothemanuscriptrequiredasystematicapproach.Firstly,itwas

necessarytosingleoutallofthesymbolswithoutknowinganyoftheirmeanings,sothatthe

unknown‘alphabet’wasclear:i.e.thatallsymbolswereaccountedforandotherrandommarks

werediscounted.Itwasthenamatteroffindingthefirstcrib,asawayin.Fromthenon,itwas

possibletodeploytheaforementionedtechniquetoidentifyeachofthesymbolsinsequence.The

firstfewwererelativelyeasy,buttheybecameprogressivelyandexponentiallymorechallenging.

However,eventuallythemeaningsofallofthefrequentlyusedsymbolswerediscoveredbya

combinationoftechniqueandalittleinventiveness,educatedguessworkandtrialanderror.

Thus,theprocessofidentificationbecamerathercomplexandprotracted,buttheeventual

solutionwasfoundtobeelegantlysimple,asisoftenthewaywithscientificendeavour.

Thereisatautologicalsaying;ifasolutionseemsobviousthenitisobviouslythesolution.Most

complexproblemsolvingisreallyamatterofwaitingfortherightmindtohaveago,asit

involvesasingularmindsettofindthecorrectstrategy,withoutwhichnoamountoftimeand

effortwillbringsuccess.Sothereisanelementofchanceinrawability,butitisalsotemperedby

yearsoftrainingintermsofscientificdiscipline,lateralthinkingandcognitivetenacity.Mostof

all,thereneedstobeawillingnesstoriskexperimentationwithnewparadigms,whichis

somethingacademiatendstodiscourage,forfearoffailurereflectingbadlyoninstitutions,but

withoutwhichinnovationcannotoccur.Wedowelltorememberthatscientific‘failure’ismerely

anothermeansofaddingusefulinformationtotheprocessofenquiryandinvestigation.


6

ThereisadearthofmaterialregardingVulgarLatinsimplybecauseverylittleevidencesurvives.

However,itprovedpossibletoidentifymanyMS408wordsbytheirprimogenitorformsin

ClassicalLatin,aswellastheirsubsequentlyevolvedformsinthemanyRomancelanguages

today.Otherwordswerediscoveredinnon-Romancelanguages,duetocontemporaneous

injectionofVulgarLatin,resultingfrompolitics,exploration,settlement,tradeandconquest.

Indeed,itmightbearguedthatVulgarLatinisstillverymuchaliveandwell,butinhiding.

Asidefrompriorlinguisticknowledge,thiswasachievedwiththeuseofvariousInternetsearch

engines,whichwereabletoaccessandscancountlessmillionsofonlinedocumentsfromaround

theworldinaninstant.Suchdocumentsincludedscholarlyandpopularbooksandpapersdating

fromthepresentdaytohundredsofyearsago.Therewasalsoawealthoflinguisticinformation

tobegleanedfromotherInternetresources,suchaswebsites,blogs,conversationsites,social

mediaandsoon–allofwhichasearchenginecanlocategivenappropriateinput.Thiswas

important,asconversationallanguageisoftenquitedifferentfromformallanguage.

Varioussearchtechniquesmadethismethodaninvaluableandefficientprocedure.Internet

translationtoolswerealsoused,alongwithonlinedictionaries,inordertoamassaworking

lexiconofVulgarLatinterms,initiallytoassistinidentifyingthealphabetandthentoperform

translationsandtransliterationsoftextsamples.Theseelectronicresourcesareofinestimable

importanceforthistypeofresearch,aswithoutthemitwouldbeimpracticableforanyoneto

coversufficientgroundinapracticaltimeframe.

ThelanguagesfoundtocontaintheVulgarLatintermsweremanyandvarious.Theywere

predominantlythoseoftheMediterraneanenvironment:includingArabic,Catalan,Croatian,

French,Galician,Greek,Hungarian,Italian,Occitan,Portuguese,Romanian,Slovenianand

Spanish.Severallanguagesfromfartherafieldalsocameintoplay,includingthoseofoldHispanic

andPortuguesecoloniesandotherpartsofEurope.Thisindicatesthatthemanuscriptwas

writtenatatimewhenItaly(presumedplaceoforigin)wasaculturallycosmopolitan

environmentduetothechangingpoliticalmapintheHighMediaevalandtheambitionsof

empire.AtthattimemuchofItalywaspartoftheCrownofAragón,whichincludedtheeastcoast

ofIberiaandthesouthcoastofFrance,aswellasSicily,Corsica,SardiniaandtheBalearics.

Theonlyminorhindrancetotransliterationwas/isthatmanyoftheVulgarLatintermshave

variousoriginalandevolvedpossiblemeanings,sothatacertainamountofinterpretivelicense

isrequiredaccordingtocontextwithinthetextofthemanuscript.Oneneedstoconsiderthatthe

languageofthemanuscriptisequidistantindevelopmentbetweenitsRomanLatinoriginsand

itsmodernRomancemanifestations.Inaddition,theuseofwordswithintheMS408textitselfis


7

oftenambiguous,duetotherelativelylimitedvocabularyavailabletoitsauthororauthors,so

thesamewordscansometimesbeusedwithdifferentspecificmeaning.

ThefewpublishedworksdocumentingknownVulgarLatintermswereofnopracticalusehere,

simplybecausetheiravailablevocabulariesweresosmallandhadlittlecrossoverwithwordsin

themanuscript.TheydocumentVulgarLatinfromearliertimeframesanddifferentEuropean

locales,sotheirversionsofVulgarLatinarequitedifferent.Evidentlythemanuscriptversionof

VulgarLatinhadevolvedtobecomeanewlanguageinessence,whichiswhyproto-Romance

wouldseemtobeamoreappropriatedescription.See:Bibliography.

Thereisconsiderabledifferenceinhandwritingstylesbetweenpagesinthemanuscript,

suggestingthatseveralpeopleauthored,oratleastdictated,themanuscript.Somestylesare

moreconsideredandpreciselywritten,whileothersaremorespontaneousandimprecise.This

alsoseemstohaveresultedinvariousspellingsofthesamewords,asthedifferentscribeswill

haveusedthephoneticpalettetoconstructtheirownspellingsbyextemporizationandpersonal

preference.Afterall,therewasnodictionaryofVulgarLatinavailable,sospellingwasnot

standardized.

SomeoftheMS408textsymbolsareverysimilartotheirmoderncounterparts.Othersarequite

different,althoughtheirprototypecharacteristicscanoftenbedetectedwithvariationinthe

manuscriptdemonstratingtheirplasticityandthepathtotheirsubsequentadaptation.Onecan

seethattherapidexecutionofsomesymbolscausedthemtomorphinformovertime.

Itislikelytoo,thatthephoneticsoundsrepresentedbythemanuscriptsymbolsarenotexactly

thesameasthoseinmodernuse,justasvariousaccentsormodifiersareusedaboveandbelow

modernItalicletters(althoughseldominEnglish).Theeventualintroductionofpunctuation

marksandnewgrammaticalruleswouldhavedeterminedtheeventualletterforms,intheupper

andlowercase,thatweseetoday.

Results.

Therefollows,alistofthefrequentMS408textsymbolsinphoneticapproximationwiththeir

modernItalicalphabetcounterparts.Figs.1-27describeeachofthesesymbolsindividually.They

areusedthroughoutthemaintextofthemanuscript,sothevastmajorityofthetextcannowbe

freelytranslatedintoVulgarLatinorproto-Romance,andthencetransliteratedintoEnglishor

anyotherlanguage.


8

Figs.1-27.TheidentitiesofthefrequentMS408symbols,usingthecorrespondingmodern

equivalentphonemesorletters.


9


10


11


12


13


14

Afewadditionalsymbols,Fig.28,areusedtooinfrequentlytobecertainoftheiridentity.They

mayhavesomekindofpictographicmeaning.Itiscuriousthattheyarenotusedinthenarrative

text,asitstronglysuggeststhattheyplayednopartinthenarrativelanguageofthemanuscript.


15

Fig.28.SymbolsfromtheMS408textusedtooinfrequentlytobeidentified.

SomeofthemoreunusualtriphthongsandquadraphthongsaredescribedinFig.29.Theletters

ofcertainwordsaregroupedintoonesymbolwhentheybeginandendwithe(e-e)and

occasionallya(e-a)oræ(æ-e).

Fig.29SomeexamplesofinfrequenttriphthongsandquadraphthongsfoundintheMS408text.

Fiveoftheconsonantsymbols–d,n,r,s,t–demonstratetheOldItalicpedigreeoftheMS408

alphabet,astheyhaveancientpointsoforigin;namelytheArabic,EarlyGreek,EarlyLatin,

PhoenicianandSemiticalphabets.Thesymbolforletternisofparticularinterestasitisderived

fromtheArabicnuunornūn(ن),explainingitsunlikelyandunfamiliarformtotheeyesofthose

whospeakEuropeanlanguages.Eventually,thisformfellintodisuse,infavourofnbeingtreated

asacompanionphonemetom,asithadbeenintheaforementionedotherearlyalphabets.In

these,thesymbolfornwasrepresentedasalesserformofthesymbolform,oronemightsay

thatthesymbolformwasadoublen,asitisinthisverytext:i.e.n,m.Inpointoffact,thefamiliar

ItalicnisitselfderivedfromthePhoeniciannuun:ThefamiliarItalicmisderivedfroma

doubleversionofthis,knownasmem:

ThereasonwhytheletterntooktheArabicformintheMS408manuscriptbecomesapparent

whenweconsiderthesymbolsfortheremainingfourconsonants:l,m,p,qu[quheretreatedasa

consonant].Ineffect,theplaceofletternhadalreadybeenclaimedbyletterl,whichheretakes


16

thelesserformofthesymbolforletterminstead.Itiscounterintuitiveuntiloneunderstandsthe

linguisticschemeofthemanuscript.

Inthemanuscript,thesymbolsforl,m,pandquareallbasedonthesamelinearcalligraphic

model,becausetheVulgarLatinorproto-Italiclanguagehappenedtoincludewordswherebyit

wasconvenientandusefultoframethosesymbolswithvowels–usuallythelonge(e-e):thuswe

havethestandalone/componentwordsele(elle),eme(emme),epe(eppe)andeque,whichare

variouslydescribedastriphthongsandquadraphthongs.

Furthermore,thissharedlinearcalligraphicmodelforl,m,pandquisdesignedtopreventthe

crossbarofthelongefromobscuringtheinformativepartsofthefoursymbols,astheyareall

suitablyelevatedbytheirlegsorleg.Notethough,thatwhereotherframingvowelscomeinto

play,thecrossbarisstillusedtotiethesymbolstogethereventhoughthelongeisnotinvolved:

i.e.itbecameusefulforpunctuation.

AlthoughsomeRomancelanguagesnowcontaineneandennephrasing,thereisnoLatinrootfor

thoseterms,whichiswhyletterlwassymbolicallypartneredwithm,p,andqu,insteadoflettern

inthemanuscript.Itwasamatteroflogicbornebylinguisticconvenienceinprojectingspoken

VulgarLatinontothewrittenpage.AstheItalianpeninsulaisproximatewithNorthAfricait

meantthattheArabicsymbolfornwouldhavebeenfamiliaratthattimeanyway,soitsadoption

alsomadepracticalsenseforaworkingalphabet.

Inaddition,thewordnuunappearsintheHebrewBible,whereitdenotesadescendentofoneof

theTribesofIsrael,intheHouseofJoseph.So,itmayhavebeenadeliberatechoicebyearly

ChristianstousetheArabicnuunintheiralphabetforthatreason:i.e.ithadsymbolicholiness.

ThewordnuunhappensalsotomeanafishorwhaleinHebrewandproto-Semitic,whichiswhy

earlyChristiansusedthesecretsymbolofafish,theixthus,insteadoftheholycross.

Note:TheArabicnumerals1-5writtenonSpread50.Left,arenotpartoftheoriginaltext.They

appeartohavebeenaddedatalaterdate,intheincorrectpresumptionthatthecolumnof

symbolsdenotesnumbers.Itshouldalsobenotedthatthefragmentoftextatthetopofthefinal

page,(reverseofSpread176.Right.)demonstratesthatsomeofthetextsymbolshadevolvedby

thetimethisparagraphwaswritten,whileothersymbolsremainunaltered.

MS408alphabet.

Thefrequentphonemes/lettersoftheMS408alphabetarethereforeasfollows:a,æ,d,e,i,l,m,

n,o,p,qu,r,s,t,u.Thisamountstosixvowelsandnineconsonants:fifteenlettersintotal.As

therearerelativelyfewfrequentletters,ascomparedwith26inthemodernEnglishalphabetfor

example,thishadincreasedambiguityintheuseofwords,forwantofalternatives,and


17

introducedidiosyncraticmodesofphrasing.Thislinguisticstrippingdownisbeguiling,especially

asvariouslettershavetwoormoresymbols,whilstthesymbolsofothersareconfusinglysimilar.

Thus,therearejust15frequentletters,butmanymoresymbolsandcombinationvariants.Itis

thejuxtaposingofthesefactorsthathasmadethemanuscriptcodexdifficulttodecipher.

Moreover,theabsenceorsilentuseofotherphonemes,hasevidentlyaffectedthelanguageused

inthemanuscript,bylimitingthevocabulary.Thismayhavebeencommontothecommunityat

largeorapeculiarityoftheenvironmentinwhichthemanuscriptwascreated.Indeed,itmay

evenhavebeenpeculiartotheauthor,orauthors,ifVulgarLatinwasnottheirfirstlanguage.The

phonemeseitherabsentorsilentinmodernterms,include:b/f,c/k,ch/sh,g/gh,h/j/y,v/w,x/z.

ManyLatinwordshadbeenexcludedfromtheMS408vocabularyduetothiseventuality.

ItisworthnotingalsothatsomephonemeshadbeendroppedintheVulgarLatingenerally.For

example,thephonemehbecamesilentvocallyatthestartofwords,sothatthesucceedingvowel

waspronouncedinsteadandthereforewrittenthatwaytoo.Similarly,someconsonant

phonemesrepresentvocaljunctions,orintervocalics,betweenotherphonemesandtherefore

wereomittedinwrittenwords,suchasjandy.Itmayalsohavebeenthatcertainconsonants

werelostbyabsorptionintoothersduetophoneticsimilarityinspeech,suchaskintoqu,andb/f

intop,andcintos.SomeassimilatedmodernRomancephonemesarep,v,b,andt,d,g,sothat

differentRomancelanguagesuseslightlydifferentspellingsandpronunciationsforwordsofthe

samemeaningandroot.

OneofthenoticeablecharacteristicsoftheMS408writtenstyle,whentranslatedintoVulgar

Latin,isanapparentuseofrhymingwordstopoeticeffect.Itseemsthatthiswasprobablymore

accidentalthanintentional,simplybecausesomanywordshavesimilarendingsduetothe

linguisticsuffixformsintheVulgarLatin.Inaddition,therepetitionofwordsandthelimited

vocabularyseemtohavecontributedtotheapparentphenomenon.

Demonstrationofdecryptionmethod.

Therefollow,someexamplesoftranslationfromtheMS408phoneticproto-Italictextinto

VulgarLatinusingmodernItalictext,thenfollowedbytransliterationintomodernEnglish.The

transliterationsarebasedonbestinterpretationoftheVulgarLatin,soonemightsaythatthey

convertthegist,oressence,ofwhatisbeingcommunicatedintomodernprosestyle,ratherthan

followingverbatim.Anothertransliteratorwouldinevitablyarriveatslightlydifferent

interpretationsoftheVulgarLatinandusedifferentturnsofphraseintheirconversionto

modernlanguage.

Thelinguisticambiguityseeninthemanuscriptwasprobablynotaproblematthetime,asthe

brainwouldhaveautomaticallysurmisedintentionduetocontext.Agoodexampleistheword


18

naus,whichsurvivestomeanaMediaevalsailingvesselusedfortransportingprovisions,ora

warehouseforstoringprovisions[Catalan,Portuguese,English,Greek].IntheMS408

manuscript,thewordnausisusedtodescribeprovisionsingeneral:foodprovisions,food

storage,tofeed,tonurture,seed-pods,berries,nutritionandnourishmentofthebodyandmind,

harvest,growthandlarder.Nausmayalsomeanaservantwhopreparesfood.Itisalsotheroot

of‘nausea’(seasickness),ofcourse,somayrefertogeneralfeelingsofmorningsicknessand

pregnancycravingsrelatedtothestomachandfoodstuffswithintheMS408text.

Inaddition,thenon-MS408variantsnousandnaucbringfurthermeanings:feeding

trough/mangerinProvencalandOccitan,coffininOldFrench,nutandnutshellinCatalan,

AlbanianandFrench,corpseinGothic.InTurkishArabicthewordnaaşisusedforcorpseand

coffin.Again,theyalludetothenotionofavessel,withinwhichafoodstuff,afluidorsomething

elseiscontained.Asnaus,nousandnaucarespokenhomophones,thenclearlythiscanexplain

whytheauthorusesnauswithsuchambiguitywithinthetext.

InvariousEuropeancountriesvariantsofnaucalsomeanlearning,knowledge,science,theself:

i.e.tocontaininformationinthemind.Similarly,inEnglishthewordnousmeansto

posses/containcommonsenseormentalability.InmodernPortugueseandCatalantheword

naushasevolvedintonoz,whichmeansnutandwalnutrespectively.Similarly,inFrenchnuts

hasbecomenoixandwalnutnoyer.InItalianwalnutisnoce,CatalannouandRomaniannuc,with

nutasnuca.

Intriguingly,thelinkbetweenwalnutsandthemindmayhavebeenestablishedbythesimilarity

betweenthekernelofthewalnutandthebraininappearance.Similarly,thenausshipseems

likelytohavegivenitsnametonuts,duetothesimilaritybetweenthevessel’shullandnutshells.

Thus,theMS408naus,canbeseenasatransitionalroottovariousmoderntermsthatseemto

beunrelated,butactuallyhavelogicalconnections:food,storage,knowledge,nuts,containment,

vesselsandsoon.Inessence,thememenaus,whichoriginatedastheGreektermforashipor

sailor,hasspeciatedoverculturaltimeandspace.

Ultimately,itseemsthattheMS408wordnausismoreaccuratelytheprogenitortonous,the

ProvencalandOccitanwordfor:feed,food,foster,nurture,providesustenance,etc.Indeed,the

Latinrootsnoris,nutrire,nutrix,mean:nourish,suckle,nurse.Similarly,theOldFrench

norir/norissmeannourish,carefor,whilenourricemeanschild-minder/nannyinmodernFrench.

Asnausisusedsoofteninrelationtotheplantsandproceduresinthemanuscript,thenthis

makesmostsense.So,itisprobablethatsomecross-overofmeaningoccurredbetweenthe

nauticalrootandthenutritionalroot,duetotheoraldistortionsofVulgarLatinandknowledge

oflinguisticoriginbeingabsent.


19

Anotherexampleistheworddolina,whichsurvivestodaytomeanvalleyorsinkhole[Greek,

Polish,Croatian,Italian].IntheMS408manuscripttheworddolinaisusedtomeananyvalley-

likedepressionthatholdsfluid,suchasabathingpoolorabath,aswellastherecessofabowl,a

potorstoragejar.Infact,itsurvivesasdoline(abasinorhollow)inEnglishandFrenchgeological

language.

Notethattheworddolena(sorrowfulwoman)isvisuallyidenticaltodolinaduetothelackof

distinctionbetween‘i’and‘e’intheMS408phoneticalphabet–perhapsbecauseletteriand

shorteweretreatedasvirtuallyidenticalphonemes.Thesimilarworddolona,means‘thecause’

ofsomething.

Theworddomina,whichiseasilyconfusedwithdolinaanddolenainthemanuscript,isusedto

meanladyormistressinthemanuscript,whichistheoriginalLatinmeaning:i.e.thedominant

womaninaroyalhouseholdornunnery.Todayitsurvivestomeandominateormaster

somethinginItalian,Catalan,Portuguese,BasqueandRomanian.

Markerwords.

DuringtheprocessofdecodingtheMS408symbols,somewordsstoodoutasmarkersof

definitiveproofthattheprescribedmeaningswerecorrect.Forexample,onSpread70.Right

(usingthenumberingaddedtothemanuscript)Thereisacircleofillustrationsofhumanfigures.

Onefigure,invertedbottomright,hasabeardandistheonlymalefigure,withthewords:opat

asa[Croatian,Slovenian,Polish]whichtranslatesasthisisabbot:i.e.theabbotofthemonastery

wherethemanuscriptwaswritten.

OnSpread2.Left.Showingthedeadlynightshadeplant(Atropabelladonna)thefirstwordisleta,

whichisLatinforkillsorslays:i.e.toreleaselife.Thefirstphraseletaeonaus,therefore

translatesinto‘deadlyasfood’.Notethattheillustrationoftheplantisnotbotanicallyaccurate,

asitshowsasingleberryonthebelladonnavine.Thisistypicalofthemanuscriptasawhole,as

theauthorwasmoreconcernedwiththemedicinalpartsoftheplantsthantheirexactanatomy.

OnSpread79.Left.Thefirstwordispalina[Italian],whichtranslatesasadepthmarkingstickor

rangingrod.(Thepluralispalinae).Theletterpinthisinstanceiselongatedandmarkedwith

depthcalibrationsbywayofillustratingthewordpictographically:i.e.itisaprimitive

illumination.Inpointoffact,afemalefigurecanevenbeseenusingapalinatomeasurethe

bathingdepthonSpread75.Right:fourthfiguredown.

OnSpread84.Left.Thesecondwordisnaror[Romanian]whichtranslatesas

cadaver/corpse/deceased/dead,indicatingatherapyforpatientsstrickenwithgrieffollowing

stillbirthsandmiscarriages.


20

OnSpread77.Right.Theheaderwordsread:nasenasorletominaomoslomornenatosar

nomina.Thistranslatesword-for-wordas:Entersand,churning,divine,dissatisfied,terminates,

baby,removed,re-appointed.Thispageevidentlyalludestousingherbaldrugsforforcing

miscarriageofstillbabiesorunwantedbabies,thustoeithersavethemother’slifeortosave

reputation.ThesourcelanguagesarePortuguese,Spanish,Italian,Latin,Greek,Romanian,

CatalanandGalician.

OnSpread99.Right.Therearethreecookingvessels.Thetopillustrationhasthewordolasarota

(olasarota)[Portuguese,Spanish],whichtranslatesaspotsforroasting:i.e.cookingpots.The

middleillustrationhasthewordaposar[Romanian],whichtranslatesassoftened,andthebottom

illustrationhasthewordmæorna[Portuguese,Spanish],whichtranslatesasearthenware/clay.

Thus,theauthorisinstructingthereadertocookthevegetablesbyboilingorsteamingthemin

claypotsuntiltender.Thesecookingpotswerestackedclaytagines,underwhichsmallfires

werelit–aNorthAfricaninfluence.Therearemanyillustrationsoftaginesinthemanuscript,

oftenmistakenfortowersorminaretsduetotheirdecorativedesigns.

OnSpread88.Left.Theheadingwords,betweenthevegetables,read:omoseimaosarosarnornas

omolaomarn,whichtranslatesword-for-word,as:however,Iam,todare,share,vegetables,not

thesame,together.AmodernEnglishtransliterationmightbe:However,Itrymixingdifferent

vegetablesforthesamerecipe.Thus,onecanseehowtheMS408VulgarLatinisusedtoconstruct

sentences.ThisparticularexampleusesVulgarLatinwordsfoundinGreek,Spanish,Estonian,

Latin,ItalianandArmenian.

OnSpread78.Right.Thewordsaccompanyingtheillustrationread:olenrnro,olena,nasaroeque

a,neinara,whichtranslatesas:valuableperfume,divinelight(oliveoil),intheringequally,new

person:i.e.theadditionofscentandoliveoiltothebathrejuvenatesthebather.Theringwould

appear,intheimage,tobesomekindofmixingfunnelinwhichtheoilandperfumewere

combinedandthenblendedwithhotwaterasitflowedintothebath.Note:oliveoilisregarded

asholynourishmentandconduitthroughoutthemanuscript.

OnSpread83.Left.Thefirstthreelinesread:molororqueinadoleinadolinaræordomaromnar

naroræina,dolinaræinadomornoræinaæinananasominaeiminarolasa,naisoeeinadomina

domeinaetnadomardomadolardolinaro.TheVulgarLatinmolorinthisinstanceistheClassical

Latinmollor(soften/calm/pacify)astheClassicalLatinmolor(grind/mill/wear)wouldbe

inappropriate.Thisexampleexplainswhydoubleconsonantswerereintroducedaftertheperiod

oftheMS408manuscript,torefinetheuseofthewrittenlanguageinthepost-Mediaeval.


21

Thewordroisanabbreviationforrogo(toask/request:Latin);eiminaistoeliminateinSpanish

andPortuguese;omishom(homine)meaningmaninLatin;narnarmeansfoolish/crazy/up-tight

inRomansch;normeansdaughter-in-lawinAromanian;ræina(reina)meansqueeninthe

Romancelanguages;ominameansomeninLatin;dominameansladyinLatin;domenameans

domain/roominLatin;dolina/dolinarmeansbath/batheinRomancelanguages;domarmeansto

tame/controlinCatalanandPortuguese;doleinameanstherapeuticinCatalan;æinameanswife

inCatalan;etna(ætna)meanstoheat/burninLatin/Greek:naismeansto

begin/commence/createinFrench.Thus,thetransliterationisconstructedbyinserting

connectives,therebyturningtheVulgarLatinintologicalmodernsentences.

So,areasonabletransliterationwouldbe:Calmingwiththerapeuticbathingisalwayscertainto

tamethetensemanandwife.Aqueen’sbathalwaysrelaxesthedaughter-in-lawandwifeto

eliminatetheomen,forittohappen.Beginnowthemethodforthelady’sdomain,andheatthe

roomtomakethebathingsmooth,please!So,thepassageappearstobeadviceforthemother

(queen)ofaprincetoimparttoherdaughter-in-lawasguidanceforseducinghersonand

becomingpregnant.

Itisinterestingtonotethatthewordetna(ætna),giventotheactivevolcanoontheislandof

Sicily,MountEtna,haspresumedetymologicaloriginfromLatinandGreek,viathePhoenician

athana,whichmeansfurnace.Thus,theMS408textservesasconfirmationofthisassociation

withheat/fireinVulgarLatin.ItseemsalsothatthereisaconnectionwiththeLatinaena(æna),

usedelsewhereinthemanuscript,whichmeanstoheat/boilwaterinacoppercauldron:i.e.asa

boiler.

OnSpread53.Right,showingtheoblong-leavedsundewplant(Droseraintermedia),thefirst

wordislanasa.Theobvioustranslationrelatestolana/lanosa,whichmeanwool/woollyinLatin

andItalian.However,lanas(singularlana)isaslangtermformoney,ormonies,inSpanish.Itwas

derivedfromtheerstwhilevalueofwoolascapital,muchliketheEnglishslangtermsformoney

doughandbread.Thus,thefirstline,whichreads:lanasaeoemeonaoma,transliteratesas:cash

isusedtopurchasethisinquantity.

Onspread67.Right-Right(foldout).Thereisacircularchartdepictingtwelvefemalefaces.The

authorisdescribingtwelveclichétypesofwomenfoundincourt,inrelationtosexualcongress

withmenofthecourt.Startingfromtop-rightwehave:1.amonar(lovedrunkard),2.olaisasmor

[amor]naus(smellsloveasfood),3.opeornaomasna(helperofmoods),4.oquasoeornaseon

arta(towhattheygivebrieftime),5.aloausameonra(growbelow,loverwesee),6.oemeat

(onewhosellsit),7.amolas(lovesit),8.aquaisamoros(thoseforloving),9.alonas(withhalo–

angels/virgins),10.noretonadomoeas(desirestobetamed),11.neonas(newones–

girls/neophytes),12.olar[ollar]atarnar(attacheroflooks).Evidently,themanuscriptisquite


22

light-heartedandwrylycomicalinitstone.Notethat;thewordnra(wesee)isArabic:

pronouncedne’ra.NottobeconfusedwiththeLatinabbreviationnra[nostra]whichmeansour.

TheotherVulgarLatinwordsaretobefoundamongthesouthernEuropeanRomancelanguages

andClassicalLatin/Greek.

OnSpread80.Right.Therearelabelsaboveaseriesofillustrationsattheheadofthepagethat

seemtodescribethestagesofaprocedure.Thuswehave:1.dosara:takedoses.2.orena:say

prayers.3.olara:onewhoeats.4.oloro:onewhostinks.5.olosa:fitandable.6.opos:bathein

plantjuice/sap(vegetable/fruit).7.orla:wrapintowel.8.omaræina[reina]:becomemother

queen.9.alas:touchedbyangels(winged).10.olais:andscented.Thus,thepatientfirsttakes

medicationandpraysuntiluncleanandpungentphysically,butcleansedspiritually.Thepatient

thenbathesinplantjuicesandemergesrefreshed,angelicandpleasantlyaromatic.

Lookingattheoppositepage(80.Left)thisspreadseemstobeaboutgettinginshapeduring

gestation.Thefirstlinereads:pornæinaorlasadomororomarnaalinorosorosor.This

transliteratesas:Amethodforshapingandcontrollingmother-to-betonourishtheterm.This

methodofbathinginplantjuicesisnowknownasopotherapy,fromopos(juice)andterapeia

(treatment),althoughitnowoftenusesanimalfluidsratherthanplantjuices.

TheillustrationatthebottomofSpread82.Right,seemtorelatetoideaspertainingtothetypes

ofchildrenonemightexpecttoproduce(readclockwise).Thewordsalongthetopofthelower

illustration(left-right)relatetoprenatalbathingandread:olas:fitandable;nasor:waterspout;

olar:tonourish;olarna:tobenourished(fat);nasasa:weir;olaisana:scentmaker.

Thewordsalongthebottomofthelowerillustration(right-left)thendescribepotentialchildren,

thus:oleios:ofolives;araus:ofroses:noror:northern;tolora:sometimes;orlala:ontheborder:

tososr:toomuch.Thefirstthreeevidentlyrelatetocomplexion:i.e.oliveskinned,rosyfaced,pale

toned.Thefinalthreeevidentlyrelatetotemperamentofchildrenwithregardtoeffortrequired

onthepartofthemother:i.e.easygoing,tolerableandveryneedy.Oneoftheimagesofthe

mothercanbeseenholdinganinfantsrattle,whilethechildignoresher.Anothershowsthe

motherholdingupherhandtoremonstratethatshehashadenough,whilethechildreachesout

forattention.

Asthecourtwouldhavebeenacosmopolitanplaceandroyalmarriageswouldhavebeen

politicallymotivated,thenbetrothalsbetweenroyaltyofsouthernandnorthernEuropeanrace

wouldhavebeencommonplace.Therefore,producingchildrenwithdifferentappearancewould

havebeeninevitableduetotheirmixedheritageAstopersonalitythough,wellasanyparentwill

testify,thatalwaysvariesregardless.


23

Note;thattheimagesofthechildrenaretypicalofartworksfromtheHighMediaeval.Theyare

essentiallydrawnasminiatureadults,includingbreasts,ratherthanhavingtheproportionsseen

inrealchildren.ArtisticrealismhadbeendevelopedinprofessionalartistryinItalyduringthe

HighRenaissance(c.1490-1527),butlayoramateurartistsstillhadthisprimitiveornaïvestyle.

TheseriesofillustrationsonSpread83.Left,(top-middle-bottom).Appeartodepictapracticeof

infusingwaterwithfemale‘essence’andscentforthepurposeofnourishingthosewhoare

pregnant.Thewordsalongthetopread:omiena(ofmine),omina[homina](lady),nausoma

(mothernourishment),ominar(withgoodomen).Thetwomiddlewordsread:olarea(pot-like:

fatwoman),orleina(neatlined:skinnywoman).Thus,thewaterispreparedwiththeessenceof

varioustypesofwoman.Note:thefiguretop-leftmaybeaself-portraitoftheauthor,orelsea

genericwomanofhertype.

Arrivingatthescenebelow,totheleftwehavethepatienttentativelysteppingintothewater.

Aboveheritsaysolais(tostink)andinfrontofherorlor(water’sedge).Totherightitsays

olorna(scentin)andolor(scented).Inthemiddletherearetwosemi-circularpipes.Abovethe

firstpipeitreads:olooma(wholemother)andolinos(addoils).Betweenthepipesitreads:

ominor(topredict).Belowthesecondpipeitreads:omeina[homeina](sheasone).

AtthebottomofSpread83.Right.Thereisanillustrationoftwowomenstandinginvesselsand

connectedbyapipe.Beneaththepipetherearethewords:emosor(issuer/provider)andortaus

(risen/sprung).Theparagraphbelowthesewordsreads:omenadolenaæinarnareeorrorenar

austornauseina.Thistranslatesas:abandon,suffering,inform,agreeably,their,out,dew,unites,

below,for,nourishing,tool.Atransliterationofthissentencemightbe:Theirfluidsuniteandwork

asanagreeablemethodfornursingbelow,byremovingthesuffering.

Thewordscorrespondingwiththetwooutflowsbelowread:tasornar(beadorned)andnasorta

(intherising).Thesecondparagraphthenreads:torleiadoliasaraortorelareeordomasornaus

ornaiseiarnarostorsmaisemeor.Thistranslatesas:turning,hurt,healing,from,turn,fortune,it

goes,tame,from,nourishment,from,mothers,itis,things-fluid,for,holy,more,acquire,from.A

transliterationmightbe:Thehurtingisturnedintohealingasthenourishmentfromthemothers’

fluidsbringsachangeinfortunefromtheholinessacquired.

Aninterpretationisthatfluidsfromhealthymotherswerebelievedtohealmotherswhowere

sufferingfromcomplicationsormaybejusttheusualconditionofpregnancy.Theillustration

seemstoindicatethatahealthymother(left)wouldwashorrinsehernetherregions,sothatthe

watercouldthenbeusedtocleansetheailingmother(right).Anaïvelogic,typicalofMediaeval

thinking.


24

Thesemarkerwordsandphrasesarevitallyimportant,astheydemonstratethevalidityofthe

decryptionmethod,evenwhensomewordsaretrickytodefineorlocate:i.e.wenowknowthe

spellingmustbecorrectandthatthewordexistedeventhoughitmaynowhavebecomeobscure

oraltered.Therefore,itbecomesamatterofdetectiveworkinfiguringoutwhatthemeaningof

anunknownwordislikelytohavebeenandthenenteringitintoaworkinglexiconwitha

provisionaldefinition.Inmostinstances,repeateduseofthesamewordenablesthetighteningof

thedefinition,bycomparingcontexteachtimeitisrevisited.Inaddition,researchoftenunearths

informationthatultimatelyservesasconfirmationofsuspicion:i.e.thewordisfoundhidingina

modernlanguage.

HerearesomemoreexamplesofexcerptsandpagestranslatedintoVulgarLatinand

transliteratedintoEnglish.ThetransliterationswereachievedbyusingalexiconofVulgarLatin

orproto-RomancewordscompiledfromClassicalLatin,fromcontemporaryRomancelanguages

andothermodernlanguages.Manywordshavevariouspossibleinterpretationsandcognatesas

discussed,sothisislargelyamatterofeducatedreckoningaccordingtocontextandother

pointers.Thetechniqueistopencil-inlikelymeanings,andthenmakeadjustmentsasrequired.

ThefirsttwoexamplesshowtheexcerptsintheiroriginalMS408fonttodemonstratethe

conversionofMS408symbolstoItalics.

PalaeographyExamples.

Belowareexamplesofthepalaeographictechniqueusedintranslatingthemanuscripttextinto

proto-Romance.InessenceitbecomesacombinationofLatinandRomancewords/phrases,as

anyLatinwordstakepriorityinordertoavoidpotentialambiguityintheRomancederivatives.

Thatway,weknowthatthetranslationisfaithfultoareasonabledegreeofaccuracy.

Transliterationthenbecomesamatterofinterpretingtheresultingsequences.

Spread11,Left.Plant:Campanulapersicifolia.Peach-leavedbellflower.Pagetextsequence.Palaeography. Manuscript Latin Romanceline1. paus(palus)(singular:pau) stems,stalks–Portuguese.naus food,edible æio(æio) totheor–Italian.peiea(peiea) forthe–Italian.doma dome(pregnantbelly) naus food emeos acquiremouth(consume,eat) omana mothersurvive,flourish t terminus(full-stop) ais Isay,Iassert line2. nais birth–French.naus food eleae shetois–Catalan,Portuguese,Italian.emeos acquiremouth(consume,eat) eous theus–Catalan.dom ofwhom,ofwhich–OldFrench.


25

eonaus thefood emea acquireto naus food,feed line3. næo(nio) child,boy–Portuguese,Catalan,

Galician.amia tomine–Portugueseleor read,detect–Portuguese.orla andthe–Portuguese.eorna Igo,proceedsurvive (line4:newparagraph) domea householder mos habit,way,custom æous(aos) tothe–Portuguese.naus food domeia household æemeia toacquireit alos(aloser) favoured,praised–OldFrench.nais young,new,fresh,tender line5. æoa(aoa) tothe–Portuguese.le’ea(leio) readit–Galician.naus food domea householder domos Home eor Igo,proceed naus food doleala doleitout,distribute,supply line6. æous(aos) tothe–Portuguese.eos them æemea toacquireit domadomous domedweller(babyinbelly) dolor ache,pain,sorrow eos them aus below(netherregions) line7. dolor ache,pain,sorrow eala sheat–Romanian.eor Igo,proceed eila theyit–Romanian.naus food nais young,new,fresh eeleas andshe–Portuguese.Areasonabletransliterationmightbe:

Theediblestemsareeatenathomebythemotherforherhealth.Iassertthattheyarebirthfood,so

thatIcantellthatthechildwillsurvive.Thehousekeepermakesahabitofacquiringthemfresh,

whentheyaretheirbest.So,Igotocollectthemandsupplythemtothehomeforachesandpainsin

thebellyanddownbelow.

Spread2B.UpperParagraph.Plant:Knapweed.Centauria.

Manuscript

Latin

Romance

line1. lanais(l’anais) theyearly–Portuguese.apeor(apear) toshed–Portuguesenaus food,nutrition omear(omear) personproceed apeaus(apeás) collect,takedown–Spanish


26

eleorta itrisen line2. nos us,we–Catalan.eosa(eos) that,the elas they–Portuguese,Occitan,Galician.T terminus æos(aos) tothe–Portugueseemea(emea) acquire,procure,getit emo purchase,buy line3 domaus(domás) totame,control–Spanishemeeaa gether eos that ea she ana equalmeasure–Italianeaus waters–Frenchline4. ae method–OldFrenchauna(aunar) tomix,merge–Spanishemon itismy–Catalanna thrive,survive epea ofstomach–Italiannar toupset,tomadden–RomanschT terminus eomausn(nous) ofthe ourevils,illnesses–Frenchomo(homo) man,person eos that ar would–Romanianæo(io) exclaim naus food,nutrition eor iproceed nas thrives,survives ameaus(amelus) foetus nas thrives,survives line5. T terminus aus below,beneath naisn(nousaisnous) oursayour nlor our them–Romaniantos cough,burp–Catalan,Occitanamorna(amorna) thrive love–Catalanneor entwine nea new epea ofstomach–Italian.line6. æos(aos) tothe–Portuguese.elea itis nausa(nausea) sickness eornas iproceedthrive

Mostofthewordshaveonlyonedefinition,eitherintheoriginalLatinorinaderivedRomancelanguage,andthesequencesappeartohavelogicintheirmeaning.Furthermore,nowordswereproducedthathadnodefinitionandthusmadenosense,whichisastrongindicatorthatthesymbolkeyisalsocorrect.Inthisparticularparagraph,theauthorofthemanuscriptisevidentlysayingthattheplantinquestionproducesfood(flowerheads)onayearlybasis,whicharecollectedwhentheyarerisen.Theygoontosaythattheremedyisgiveninequalmeasurewithwaterasatreatmentforupsetstomach,andthatsicknessinthebellyiscured,enablingtheunbornbabytosafelysettleanddevelopasnormal.Theplantappearstobeaspeciesofknapweed(Centauriaspp.).SomeMediterraneanspecieshavewhitishflowers,ratherthanthefamiliarpurple.Theflowerswereusedfor‘fluxesofthebelly’inMediaevaltimes.Theywereeitherpulpedandmixedwithwater,ormadeintoadecoction–areducedliquor.Theterm‘knap’isacorruptionof‘knop’,whichmeantan


27

ornamentalknobinMediaevalEnglish.,duetotheappearanceoftheflowerhead.Asthisherbalinformationalsoconcurswiththetranslatedmanuscripttext,thenitwouldseemreasonabletoconcludethatthesolutionworks,bothinrespectoftheproposedlanguageofthemanuscriptandtheproposedsymbols.

ExcerptsfromMS408manuscript,translatedandtransliterated.

Example1.

Spread10.Left.FieldPansy(Violaarvensis)(VulgarLatin:dopeapeo:TheLittlePeas).Paragraph

One.

VulgarLatin

VulgarLatin.

quoeosoposonaopaæosnausdopeapeodoquoræorequeornaus

neosdoauselausemeoseoreosepeornaomadolausna

aleaeosalausnausemeaomausolaoeeitnaus

ameamealausemeosomoromamorna

Transliteration.

Whentherearetheoppositeofgoodyearsforthegrowthofthelittlepeas,theyoungpods,which

haveanequalreputation,arepraisedandeatenwhenharvestedbycuttingoffatthejoint.They

prayforthepodstogrowandlo,theywitnesspods.Ifthepraiseisinsufficientthenthefinalharvest

collectedthreatenstobedisappointing.


28

Example2.

Spread100.Right.Cookinginstructions.Textplacedbetweenplantillustrationsasheader.

VulgarLatin.

eotasoæortoeosequeaomiaseoquasataseasnausna

osasotoquasa

eortaistoimatosasanaloele

Transliteration.

Fortheirbigroasttheyneedtobecookedequally,soplacethefoodintheroasterinapileandstir

andmashthecelebrationinside.

Note:Thephoneme‘a’atthebeginningof‘aso’isnotafreea,becauseitisclearinthisinstance

thataseparatewordisbeingwritten–thuspunctuationwasusedflexibly.Thephoneme‘a’at

theendof‘equea’isnotafreeaeither,forthesamereason.

Example3.

Spread85.Left.Antenatalbathing.Illustrationannotationsx3.

Vulgarlatin.

omnanasenanasosasa

tousoleiiatorolara

olasanaisoraeeleanæina

olenatoreianaisorna

naseaaæleaoeina

Transliteration.

Allofthemasone,theyenterthesanctuary.

Eachhasoliveoilforthepregnantbelly.

Muchrecordofitexistsforthismethod.


29

Holylightstrikesthemothersandadorns

thembytheorganbeingpenetratedwithoil.

Example4.

Spread79.Left.Sacredbathing.First5lines.

VulgarLatin.

palinaorqueinadolinatpeaeinasornosoqueinadolina

oræinadolinasæenaemenaominalinanarnarnoromanar

dolinaeemadoræinaolinanoriitoreiadominanasa

orearænareieleaorleinareieleiarorlinalaisor

dosorleiaorlaisoretiaoreielanasolarnaroreina

Transliteration.

Toremoveanydoubt,measurethedepthofthewomen’sbathingpoolwithapalina[measuring

rod]forconfidencethatthemethodwillworkduringthebathing.Thesacredlevelofthebathing

poolwillsummonthedivinepowerofgod’sholyfireandlighttoapproach.Thiswillenablethe

mistressinthebathingpooltospirituallyelevateandremovethethingthattroublesher,asa

daughterofgodinthegoldenglowontheforeshore.Formacircleofchantinginunisonnow,so

thatthemethodenableshertoenvisiontheholyfire.

Note:Hereweseetheaforementionedwordpalinausedincontext.Clearly,thedepthofthe

waterwasconsideredanimportantpartoftheprocedure.

Example5.

Spread84.Left.Oliveoilasgrieftherapy.Firstparagraph.

VulgarLatintranslation.

pornalanaroromenaemaisopeinadomaræenaeepeinaopeia

noræenadolinaæenadominareiemeinadolinadomareianas

domauseemeanarorlinaæenadomarnadolausnaisæenaomeia

naisaeienaomeionanornadominadoleinadolinasæiornadorora

dollaræenadomaiseinaeinornausomausæenadoleinaolaus

einadomeinaomaræenatorereetoleoræenadolar

doleiaomeiadolaroreinananordollarorlæinadoleinadollar

torleinadolausolauseinoleia

ororasaolasea


30

Englishtransliteration.

Tobegintoforgetthedeceased,thisisinductiontoamethodofconstraint.Overwhelmedwomen

bathetoacquiregod’sholylightwhentheyareaffectedbyatimeofgriefandinjuryfollowingbirth.

Theill-fatedladyinmourningusesthesebathstosoothethepainandtopray.Itisamethodof

takingcontrolbynourishingtheselfthroughpraiseduringmourningandbyapplyingoliveoilto

thesorrowfulwoman,tocalmandsoothe.Thetormentandinjuryarereducedbypraiseandby

anointingwithoil.

PrayandprayagainAbundance

Example6.

Spread34.Left.Helianthusannuus/Helianthustuberosus(sunflower/topinamber)

VulgarLatin.

masasnausanaisemeianortæelaosauses

lenanasanaomaomarnaisenaamasaomasaeasa

naseeleananalaelenaolanasa

molasænanardolasænomonaeinaamenanonanais

menaeonaolauseeleanosasremeanamanaalaseilana

aeionasorausolasenaenaornaolasena

mænaæequenaæelenaorlinanausolaeiorosaisenaænaposas

nasasæeialeinaoleaolasolinaeanausnananasausolasa

tasosauseosasælaisæoreeleaasausolaisnarna

reoasoseiaronausoosoleinaolara

masarleiaosasa

Transliteration

Anabundanceoffoodyearly,toharvestfromthetopandthebottom.Theygiveenergytoupliftthe

motherandthebabyasone.Kneadthelife-upliftingenergyintothedough.Nowbakethesacred

breadandchopitintopiecesasgenerousofferingsforNona[godofbabies/birth].Nowtakecontrol

ofthepassingtimewithpraise.Asthetimetocomeapproachesinthemorning,cradlingandprayer

areusedtoadornthecontractions.Manna[heavenlybread]isunequalledasaholyfoodforthe

wellbeingoflifebelow.Nowplaceitinoilofholylight[oliveoil]asfoodforthecontractionsand

consumetothebottomwithchantingandpraise.Themealisgoodnessandanointsthebelly,but

youmustalsoreadyourlittleone.

Note:Theauthorseemstoconfusethesunflower(Helianthusannuus)andthetopinamberor

Jerusalemartichoke(Helianthustuberosus),asbothbelongtothegenusHelianthusandwerenew

arrivalsinsouthernEuropeinthe16thcentury,havingbeenintroducedfollowingtheirdiscovery


31

inNorthAmerica.Theimmatureplantslookalmostidentical,butthematuresunflowerhasthe

largeseed-headwhilethematuretopinamberhastherootrhizomes,sobotharecombinedhere

inoneillustration.Thisobservationfitsverywellwiththepresumedearly16thcenturyoriginof

themanuscript,justwhentheHelianthusspecieswerebecomingnewlyestablishedinthe

Mediterraneanasexoticnewfoods.

PresumingitwasaJesuitabbey,theJesuitsoperatedundertheauspicesofthePortuguese

Empire,whichincludedmuchofItaly,IberiaandtheMediterraneaninbetween(Russell-Wood,

1992).Notealso,onSpread69.Right:theportraitofayoungwomanwearingablue‘gable-hood’:

labelledolara[ollara]whichmeanslooker:i.e.abeauty.Thistypeofheaddressoriginatedinthe

TudorEnglishcourtcirca1490,withElizabethofYork,andthefashionwouldtakesometimeto

influencecostumeinsouthernEurope,followingCatherineofAragon’spresenceattheFieldof

theClothofGold(1520).Infact,theillustrationshowsalatershort-sidedgable-hood,which

correspondswith1534onwards,justwhentheJesuitmovementwasbecomingestablished.

LegendhasitthatSamueldeChamplainintroducedthetopinambertoEuropeintheearly1600s,

butthisseemstobeincorrect.ThesunflowerarrivedinSpainintheearly1500sshortlyafterthe

EuropeandiscoveroftheAmericas,andthemanuscriptillustrationshowsaplantwiththeseed

headofthesunflowerbuttherhizomesofthetopinamber.

Giventhecontentoftheaccompanyingtext,therewouldappeartobenootherexplanation,apart

fromone:itmaybethatanotherHelianthusspecieswasintroducedandgrownforawhile,such

asMaximiliansunflower(Helianthusmaximiliani),whichproducesbothseedheadsandedible

rhizomes.ItalsooriginatesfromanareaofNorthAmericathatwasexploredearlierthanthe

regionwhereHelianthustuberosusoriginated.SoitmayhavebeenpopularinsouthernEurope

untilsupersededbyboththesunflowerandthetopinamber,astheyhadsuperiorseedheadsand

rhizomesrespectively.Infact,thenumberofseedsshownintheseedheadswouldseemto

concurwiththishypothesis.

Althoughtheillustratedleavesarepalmatetherestoftheplantiscertainlyinkeepingwiththe

Helianthusform,soitseemsthattheartistmayhaveusedsomeimaginativelicenseforthe

foliage.Perhapstheyweredrawnoff-seasonwithnolivingplanttoobserve,ortheysimplydidn’t

bothertolookbecausetheleaveswereunimportant.Or,perhapstheysimplyrepresentthe

handsoflanceolatefoliagethattheMaximiliansunflowerhas,incontrastwiththeothertwo

species.Notealso,thatthebluishcolouringaroundtheseedheadsisnotintendedtoshowblue

petals,astheplantisinseed,sothecolouringactuallyrepresentsthegreyishhueofthedried

sepals.


32

Thefirstdocumentedreferencetothemanuscript,in1637,fitswellwiththistimeline,asclearly

itsoriginandwritingsystemhadhadsufficienttimetobecomeamysterytothosewhowere

attemptingtoreadandunderstanditscontentsatthattime.Thus,by1637,themanuscriptwas

about100yearsold.ItmayhavetravelledtoPraguefromtheItalianpeninsulasimplybecause

theroyalcourthadrelocatednorthwhentheHolyRomanEmpirehadlostitssouthernmost

territoriesfollowingthereignofCharlesV(1500-1558),whohadalsobeenmonarchofthe

CrownsofAragonandCastile.

Also,RudolfII(1552-1612)hadspentseveralyouthfulyears(11-19yrs)atTheEscorio,Spain,

underthetutelageofPhilipII(1527-1598),futureKingofSpainandPortugal,sohemayeven

haveacquiredthemanuscripttherebeforeeventuallyresidinginPragueCastle,whereGeorgius

Barschiuslaterbecameacquaintedwithit.Rudolfhadbeenfascinatedbytheoccult,magicand

astrology,sothemanuscriptwouldhavebeenavalueddocumentinhiscollection,especiallyasit

seemedtobewritteninsecretcode.ItisnotedinthediaryofJohnDee(1527-1608),of1586,

thatRudolfhadpurchasedabookwrittenincipher,whichmay,ormaynot,havebeentheMS

408manuscript(Halliwelletal,2013).Thisisevidentlywherethemanuscriptbecame

erroneouslyattributedtoRogerBacon,ofthe13thcentury,asDeehadalsosoldanumberof

BaconmanuscriptsduringhisEuropeantravels(1583-89).

Whatevertheactualsourceofthemanuscripttohiscollection,Rudolfrelocatedhisroyalcourt

fromViennatoPraguein1583,sothemanuscriptwouldhavebeenonlytwoorthreedecadesold

whenitfounditswaytotheBohemiancapital.Despitethis,itslanguageandwritingsystem

werealreadyunknowntothenorth,andthepassageoftimesawtheRomancelanguagesand

Italicsevolve,sothatthemanuscript’smeaningwassubsequentlylosttothesouthalso.Bythe

timeBarchiusattemptedtounderstandthemanuscriptinthe1630snoone,northorsouth,

knewhowtointerpretitssymbolsandlanguageanylonger,andthatwouldremainthecasefor

380years.

DuringtheHighMediaevalperiodciphersbecamepopularforconcealingpotentiallydangerous

informationrelatingtopoliticalconspiraciesandforconcealingpotentiallydangerousideasand

beliefsfromtheCatholicChurch,soitwouldhavebeenlogicaltopresumethatmanuscriptMS

408waswrittenincodetoo,simplybecauseitusedunfamiliarsymbolsthatboresome

resemblancetotheabstractandarbitraryqualitiesofthoseusedforgenuinecodes.

DuetotheubiquitousandmigratorycultureofHighMediaevalroyalcourtandtheproto-

Romancelanguageusedforthemanuscript,itmaybethattheprecisegeographicaloriginofthe

manuscriptcannotbeascertainedasitmightwellhavebeencreatedanywherearoundthenorth

Mediterraneancoastalarc,whereamonasteryandroyalcourthadco-existedintheearlymid-

16thcentury.


33

Example7.

Spread76.Left.Centralillustration:Negotiatingthepriceofoliveoil.

VulgarLatin.

olæatasar-nolarnasor-narnanaræn–narlasdolar–nraosa–omarea–narnadomin–slar

alina–orleaomora

Transliteration

Themoneynose(negotiator),whospeaksheatedly,appraisesthepriceofoliveoil.Wedisagreeand

thesternmotherspeaksaccusinglytocutthepricebycontrollingthemwithease,becausegod’s

lightwehonour.

Note:TheArabicwordnramaybeseenagainhere,inthephrasenraosa(weseedisagreement),

althoughitcouldalsobetheabbreviationfornostra,toform‘ourdisagreement.’Bothoptions

workequallywell.

Example8.

Spread94.Right.Ivy(Hederahelix)usedasatranquilizingdrug.

VulgarLatin.

meinaopauteinausnæeinadopeinarlionausomanausoas

noseionaolausonasolarolaisomanausdomasolasoraus

monareorladollarænadolaomonadoloreiadolaisopasa

æosorleenaeiinalarenaeinausoseorlasasa

nauseelasorlausorlionaalausomaisnasolienaalaso

tausealadomenaomaraeinanarnaeeleauseldoqu

peinasosauseioslatosartakoeleiaorlaisasa

amadolausalarenadolaotaisealainanasa

omasenanamena

Transliteration

Iseeatrulypotentmedicineasanamazingmethodforrelaxingandsoothing,forwhichwepraise

ourgraciousgod.Ithasagoodsmellingodourtohelpthemothercontrolthenauseawavesand

bringsalvationtoournoblemonarch.Cut,boilandchoppiecesofthemagicalremedywhenthe

achingoccurs,andthequeenwillhavegoldendreamsasthelittleoneproceedsbelow.Theberries

areprunedfromtheedge,withthegreenerywhereitismostfragrantontheouterbranches.Itisa

holymethodforcontainingthefirebeloweverywhere,whenthepainbelowreaffirmsitshold.First


34

chantforthelittleoneandthenthemasticresinwillcarrytheproblemawaywiththesame

purpose.

Note:IntheMediterraneanregion,ivyexudesasappyresin(mastic),whichwasusedas

medicinalincense.Sothepatientbothingestedthemedicineandbreathedinfumesfromthe

mastic.

Example9.

Spread37.Left.WildLupinBeans(Lupinusalbus).Firstparagraph.

VulgarLatin.

peasotadoquososaæoausmeiaeelieaomausepeasnaus

domaseoromausdomosamasoeoseimaeleosnosa

neameaamostomausdopeosomasomeaust

domeosalamananausemeos

Transliteration

Theseseed-headsaregrownaspartofmycourtcollectiontobeeatenasfood.Theyareanew

favourite,sowegrowthemathometocontrolthecrop.Theherbgrowsevenmoreandcanbe

acquiredathomefrommygarden.

Example10.

Spread78,Right.Therapeuticbathingforpost-natalgrief.Maintext,firstparagraph.

VulgarLatin.

mæinosæinadopeinadolinanadolorola

doleinadolinaæinameinaomasorlinanasa

deleenadomarnoreinadolenadolaisorlina

alienadomarnoræinadolinaseemeiaolosnosos

dolarominadolinadolinanardolenatnasa

næinadolinaolasdolenaæinaalenaæinadola

teinaleinadolinaeelendolaiseinadominana

næinaneinadoleinaomenaomormenaoraus

dolaoleinaæeimadomeinaomeaæeleenatoloros

nosæilenadolorlienaomenaormenaeeleena

dolinaorlenadolaisolenalenamornadoleinana

toseieleaoseelenanorlenadolininadolasor

neeleenadolenadolinaolenanarasoleinorlais

doloromenolaiseinosarosa


35

touslaslenapæiamenormna

oreinadolaisnasasolais

aeiosausoleinadolaiser

toræinanarænadolaena

reinadolaiseeelarolena

aeendolaisnauseelenars

taisæeoosleinasousoliena

dolienalenadoleiadolinaoror

tolienaliorrosaisorleiasaus

toræialataosæinadienasaisaor

nauseelearnaurarna

Transliteration.

Thisisawisdomtherapybathingmethodforthetreatmentofmothersingrief.Themourning

therapybathispotent,becauseitusesthedivineglowtoremovethesorrow.Webuythefragrance

forthewisdomtherapybathandthedivinepowerreducesthesorrowwithitsholyfire.Itisawise

methodofharvestingthesorrowbybreathingandremoving.Thisdeviceallowstheladytomourn

withoutpain.Themethodallowsanewstartbyusingtheguidanceofprayertokillandleave

behindthemourning.Youanointalloftheareawithbalsamandtheenergysoothesthelow-mood

inastroke.Thebathingenergycausesthemourningtoceaseastherepeatedbathingshapesitby

usingtheholylightintheoilandchanting.Thesorrowisperceivedbytheforceandisalleroded

andremovedbytheoils.Youreaffirmbelowbyanointingthepainandthenwashingaway.Theholy

lightremovesthenauseaanditisdeparted.Weaskforthefragrancetouseitsenergybelowby

praying.Thefragrancebringssmoothnessandcomforttherebelow,sotheconditionisturnedand

carriedawaybywisdomoverdayswiththefoodofbreathingtheairofholyfireandlight.

Note:Althoughthetransliterationisabestapproximationoftheauthor’smessage,onecanstill

seethatthetextisnotverysuccinct,asitisgivenovertopersuasiverepetition.Thisisquite

typicaloftheoverallprosestyle.Inmodernterms,wemightsaytherearemanyadjunctsand

disjuncts.

Example11.

Spread1.Right.Theveryfirstlineofthemanuscript:Theoriginalbooktitle.

VulgarLatin.

Quaeeatalarasamausæoreosemesetalotæorna

Transliteration.

Whatprotectiononeneedstobesuretoacquirefortheevilssetinone’sfate.


36

Palaeographicanalysisoftheabove.Manuscript Latin RomanceQua what,which,that eeat(eat) Iproceed a of,to lar protection(householdspirit) as at,in-Catalana of,to maus(singular:mal) evils-Frenchæor(eor) proceed eos them,they eme Iacquire set but,hence a of,to lot fate(one’slotinlife)-French.æor(eor) proceed na moveforward,survive(swim,float,

fly)

Conclusion:AsmostwordscanbesourceddirectfromLatin,withdefinitivemeanings,andtheremaindercanbelocatedunalteredwithintheRomancelanguages,thenthetranslationtoItalicsisunambiguous.Thelanguageisproto-Romance,asitcombinesLatinwithRomance,andthesymbolsareproto-Italic.OthersuitabletransliterationsintomodernEnglishmightbe:

1. Theprotectiononeneedstoacquiretosurvivetheevilssetinone’sfate.2. Protectionfromevilsthatoneneedstoacquiretosurviveone’slotinlife.3. Iacquireprotectionfromtheevilsinlifeinordertosurvivemyfate.

ThisexampledemonstratesthattheproposedsolutiontomanuscriptMS408iscorrect,asthe‘degreesoffreedom’areminimalandthesequenceofresultingwordsisclearlymeaningful:i.e.ittakeslittleinterpretiveefforttotransliteratethemintoalogicalsentenceinmodernEnglish.Inaddition,giventhenatureofthecontentofthemanuscript,theoutcomeofthetranslationandtransliterationwouldseemtobeappropriateasanintroductoryline.Theauthorisexplainingthatthebookwillprovideinstructiontothereaderwithregardtotreatmentofphysicalandmentalmaladiesinordertobecarriedthroughlife.Centraltothebeliefsystemwastheideaoftheprotectivehouseholdspirit:lar.

Example11b.Palaeographicanalysisofline2,Spread1.Manuscript Latin Romancet(terminus) full-stop,period osa Idislike,hate eleas(eles) them-OldPortugueseos tospeak,tomouth, a as lais religiousservant-OldFrencheo Igo maus(singular:mal) evils–Frenchæas(eas) Iact ait Isay,assert emeas Iprovide emeas Iprovide nas(na:singular) Toswim,float,survive


37

Conclusion:AsmostwordscanbesourceddirectfromLatin,withdefinitivemeanings,andtheremaindercanbelocatedunalteredwithintheRomancelanguages,thenthetranslationtoItalicsisunambiguous.Thelanguageisproto-Romance,asitcombinesLatinwithRomance,andthesymbolsareproto-Italic.SuitabletransliterationsintomodernEnglishmightbe:

1. Idislikethem[evils]so,asyourreligiousservant,Igotothoseevilsandsay,andactandasserttoprovideyoursurvival.

2. Asyourreligiousservant,Isayandactandasserttodoublyprovideyouwithsurvivalfromthoseevils.

Again,thisexampledemonstratesthattheproposedsolutiontomanuscriptMS408iscorrect,asthe‘degreesoffreedom’areminimalandthesequenceofresultingwordsisclearlymeaningful:i.e.ittakeslittleinterpretiveefforttotransliteratethemintoalogicalsentenceinmodernEnglish.Inaddition,thesecondlinehaslogicalcorollaryfromthefirstline:1.Theprotectiononeneedstoacquiretosurvivetheevilssetinone’sfate.2.AsyourreligiousservantIsay,andactandasserttodoublyprovideyouwithsurvivalfromevils.Theauthorisclearlysellingherknowledgeandexpertisetotheintendedreader,whomwepresumetohavebeenafemaleroyalofcourt.

Example12.

Spread3.Right.Pondweedforurinaryinfections:Hydrillaverticillata.Water-nymph.

VulgarLatin.

mæiotdopareosemeornaisata

aeioseosnasadomeasaeasa

oeosdoeioseornausemea

teiaeoseareasaeasaeo

dollareororateasaemeor

aemauseosemeosaomarnasa

omeordonauseosaæosanasao

aæioseoseorolanatao

æoaosæiornasaomeonaor

anaseoremeosa

peioræortortæioræia

olanausdoleordoteonasaoemea

doleiadomæiadolonadolæiaeiona

eosdonaisoleiadoliia

mæioasosaæasoseosoretaeosaomeosa

omeoreorteiorelæadoleosadolornaus


38

toeosaoliosaameonadoleionartasa

peiornosaæonausdopeiosdoporopeordoma

omeosoreiosdoiosnaisdomiordotaus

aeioseoronauseortausolorosasa

Transliteration.

Medicationforurinaryinfectiontheyacquirefromthewater-nymph[plant].Theymassagethe

domewhereitispainfulwhilethesubstancemakesitgoawaybyformingaveil,sothatanewday

beginsfromthesuffering.Itcollectsthebadbecauseourlovegrantsthatitisfoundandconveyed

fromthelake.Itisgatheredforthepotinthemouthsofteenageswimmerslikedabblingducks.

Thecontortionsbecomeworsewithage,whendownbelowhurts,butgodliftsthesadnesswithhis

gifttotheconditionatthecausewhentheyconsenttogivetheointment.

Idaretourinateaboutanhourafteradministeringthelove.Thepainfulnessisremovedbythe

substance’sointmentverypleasantlyandatanagreeablerate.

Atourworstagethismedicationisusedtocontrolthebody,byreaffirmingtheorgan.Italso

reaffirmstheopeningandstopstheloweraroma.

Note:ClearlythenaïveMediaevallogicwassuchthaturinaryinfection(cystitis)wasnaturally

associatedwithbodiesofwater,sowaterplantswerebelievedtoholdthecure.Astherewasno

scientificknowledgeofthebodyfightingoffinfectionwithantibodies,thennaturalrecoveryfrom

infectionswouldhavebeenattributedtotheadministeredhomeopathicremediesandthereby

perpetuatedbeliefinthem.

Discussion.

HavingtranslatedandtransliteratedvariouskeywordsandexcerptsoftheMS408manuscript,it

demonstratesthatthedescribedmethodofdecryptioniscorrect.ThetranslationstoVulgarLatin

areaccurateastheyare‘letterforletter-wordforword’,whilstthetransliterationsareamatter

ofinterpretation,giventhattheVulgarLatinvocabularyisambiguousandthatthegrammatical

structureissimplifiedandprimitivebycomparisonwithmodernlanguage.Itissimilartothe

waynewspaperssimplifytheirheadlinecopy,byusingonlythekeywordsandomittingthe

connectivestosaveonspace,leavingthereadertoputthemin.

Despiteitssimplicity,theMS408alphabetisalsomisleading.Thisisduetoanumberoffactors:

theabsenceofdedicatedpunctuationmarks(resultinginsymbolduality,diphthongs,


39

triphthongsandquadraphthongs);theclosesimilarityofsymbolswithdifferentphonetic

meaning;theproto-Italicstageinevolutionofthesymbols;thelanguagebeinglargelyunknown

duetoitsownevolutionarystageandbeinghiddenwithinmanymodernlanguages.Thesymbols

areprototypesastheyhadnotyetbeenfullydefined,andonecanseehowmostoftheireventual

modernformscameintobeingaspunctuationdeveloped.ThereisnoindicationthattheMS408

symbolsareacodedesignedtopreventaccess,butmerelyaphoneticalphabetthatrequired

identifyingalongwithgrammaticalrulesthatrequiredapprehending.

ThelanguageusedisalatedialectofVulgarLatinorproto-Romance,withgreatlysimplified

wordandsentencecomposition,whichhasconsequentlyresultedinhighambiguityinword

meaning.Thisisfurtheramplifiedbytheabsenceofvariousphonemes,eitherbecausetheyhave

beendropped,becausetheyhavebecomesilentorbecausetheyhaveyettobeadoptedas

syllabicjunctionsornewphonemes.

Indicationsarethatthemanuscriptisanexampleoftheinformalspokentonguerenderedinto

text,ratherthantheproductofanyformalityortaughtstandard.Itseemslikelythatthelanguage

wastheItalianlinguafrancawithinhighsociety,courtsandmonasteriescomprisingpeoplefrom

manynationalities,duetopolitical,businessandspiritualmigrationsintheHighMediaevalin

southernEurope.Tothatextent,itismuchlikethe‘VulgarEnglish’spokenandwrittenacross

Europeinthemodernday,whichisusuallyadequateforgeneraldiscussionbutofteninadequate

fordetailedandspecificcommunication.

ClassicalLatintypicallyusestheclosureofwordstoindicatespecificmeaninginterms,butthis

hasbeenlargelylostintheMS408formofVulgarLatin,leavingthereadertointerpretmeaning

fromcontext.ItseemsthatthissimplificationofLatinhadanironicconsequence,asitforcedthe

introductionofnewwordsinordertore-establishmorespecificmeaningsandincrease

vocabulary,sothatVulgarLatinultimatelyspeciatedintoitsdescendentRomancelanguages

whenthepoliticalmapcausedmultipleculturalisolationsfollowingtheendoftheMediaeval.

Zodiacpages.

Foranyonewhoisscepticalabouttheidentificationofproto-Romanceasthelanguage,oneonly

needstoexaminethezodiacpages(Spreads70-75).Thecentralzodiacsymbolshaveoverwritten

wordlabels,givingthenamesofthemonths,usingfamiliarItalics,butstillusingtheproto-

Romancelexicon.Theythereforefunctionasdefinitiveproof,asthewordssurvivetodayin

variousRomancelanguages:Portuguese,Catalan,SpanishandFrench.Theselabelswerethus

addedtothemanuscriptfairlysoonafterthemanuscriptwascompleted,whenproto-Romance

wasstill.


40

Thezodiacpagesinsequence:70L.MiddleImage:rainclouds,Rightimage:faceshoweredwithwater=Aquarius.February.Nooverwriting.Note:Representingwaterwaslaterdonewithewersoramphorae.70R.Image:twofishes=Pisces.Overwrittenword:mars–MarchinFrench.71L.Image:goat=Aries.Overwrittenword:abril–AprilinPortuguese/Catalan.71R.Image:goat=Aries.Overwrittenword:abril–AprilinPortuguese/Catalan.72L.Left:Image:bull=Taurus.Overwrittenword:ayo(mayo)–MayinSpanish.Middle:Image:bull=Taurus.Overwrittenword:ayo(mayo)–MayinSpanish.Right.Image:boyandgirlwins=Gemini.Overwrittenword:duny(juny)–JuneinCatalan.Note:Same-sextwinssymbolisthemorefamiliarinthemodernday.72.Image:twolobsters(rawandcooked)=Cancer.Overwrittenword:dulho(julho)–JulyinPortuguese.Note:thefamiliarcrabsymbolwasadoptedlater.72R.Left.Image:lion=Leo.Overwrittenword:agost–AugustinCatalan.Right.Image:virgin=Virgo.Overwrittenword:setembre–SeptemberinCatalan.73.L.Image:scales=Libra.Overwrittenword:octobre–OctoberinFrench.73R.Image:scorpion=scorpio.Overwrittenword-noveba–ninth/NovemberinCatalan.Note:Thescorpionwasoftenincorrectlydrawnasamythicalanimalwithalongstingingtail,becausepeoplehadnotseenarealspecimen.74.Missing.75.L.Image:archer–Sagittarius.Overwrittenword:decembre–DecemberinFrench.Note:TheSagittariussymbollaterbecameacentaur.Note:Capricorn(January)ismissingfromthezodiacsequence:Therearepagescutfromthemanuscriptbetween75.Land75.R.Note:Theletter‘j’isstillrepresentedasaproto-Italicinverted‘d’inJuneandJuly:theletter‘m’hasbecomesilentatthestartofMay:inAprilthereistheclassicb/v/pphoneticcrossover.

Conclusion.

Inplainterms,thewritingsystemusedfortheMS408manuscriptwasinadequateand

transitional,asitwasanattempttopullspokenVulgarLatinbacktothewrittenpage,followinga

longperiodoforaltradition.Inevitably,itsproto-Italicsymbolswouldrequirerefinement,along


41

withthedevelopmentofpunctuationandgrammar,untilthemodernItalicsystememerged.

Concurrently,VulgarLatintransitionedintoproto-Romanceandgaverisetothevarious

Romancelanguages,astheyeachevolvedinrelativegeopoliticalisolation.Thus,VulgarLatinwas

absorbedintothemodernlanguages,whereitnowsurvivesinfragmentaryandvestigialform,

muchliketheDNAofanancestralspeciesunderpinningthegeneticmakeupandrelatednessof

severalnewspecies.

WithregardtothecontentoftheMS408manuscript,itisevidentlyratherprosaic,and

sometimesanodyne,informationregardingherbalremedies,distillationsandtherapiesin

combinationwithprayer.Inmodernparlanceitisabookonhomeopathy,withspecificantenatal

andpostnatalfocusthroughpraise.Asitisbelief-systembased,ratherthanscientificallybased,

therearefrequentspiritualandreligiousreferencesaspartoftheinstructionandguidance.This

wasinevitableatapointinhistorywhereempiricalmedicalunderstandingwasyettodevelop,

socommuningwiththeirgodplayedanimportantroleinallaspectsoflife,asitwasbelievedto

holdswayoverone’sfate.

Theillustrationsarenaïveandlargelyinaccurate,orimprecise,especiallythoseoftheplants,as

theauthorwasclearlymoreconcernedwiththeusefulpartsoftheplantsthantheirexact

botanicalanatomy.Fewarenamed;probablybecausecommonorlocalnameswouldhavehad

novalueinamultinationalcommunityandscientificnaminghadn’tyetbeeninvented,whichis

whytheyaredrawnandpainted.Inaddition,thesketchesmaynothavebeentakenfromliving

specimens.Nevertheless,mostspeciescanbeidentifiedquitereadilywithalittleresearchand

commonsensebasedonthevisualcluesandinformationinthetext.

Theprimitivefigurativedrawingsanddiagramsarereallyillustrationsofimaginedbelief

concepts,ratherthanreality,designedtoaddvisualmeaningtothetext,whichoftenuses

ambiguouswordingandoftenimpartslittlepracticalinformationrelativetoitsverbosity.Thus,

themanuscriptrequiredtheinclusionofillustrationsforthereadertomorefullyunderstandthe

textandtherebyaccesstheinstructionoffered.Ofcourse,ifindeedtheauthorwasalinguistic

foreignerthentheywouldalsohavebeenawareofthelimitationsoftheirvocalandwritten

language,sotheillustrationswouldhavebeenanattempttoembellishtheircommunication.

Atthattimedistillationwasabranchofthefancifulideaofalchemy.Itwasbelievedthat

supernaturalenergiescouldbeextractedfromcertainplantsdependingontheircharacteristics:

oftenduetotheirresemblancetopartsofthehumananatomyortoChristianemblems.Inthe

caseofoliveoil,itscolourwasevidentlybelievedtorepresentthegoldenglowofholiness,so

thatonemightbeanointedwithholinessoronemightconsumethesameholiness.Thusone

couldbeexternallyandinternallycommunicatedwithgodbyusingoliveoilastheconduit,which

musthavebeenaveryreassuringnotionintimesofemotionalandphysicaldistressandneed


42

whenlittleelsewasavailableasidefromrecuperationandrest.Ofcourse,wenowknowthat

oliveoilishighlynutritiousscientifically,anditseemsthattheanecdotalbenefitsofconsumingit

wereattributedtohigherauthorityinstead.

AstotheauthororauthorsoftheMS408manuscript;thecluessuggestsomeonewhodivided

theirtimebetweencollectingandgrowingherbs,andimpartingmedicaladviceandguidanceto

court:mostlikelyanunoffairlyhighrank,whohadcultivatedareputationforhomeopathy,

natalcareandmattersoftheheart:aMediaevalobstetrician,gynaecologistandpractitioner.It

maybethatthevariationinhandwritingisduetoherhavingusedvariousunderlingstodictate

herwords,orthatherownwritingstylesimplyvarieddependingonhermoodandcircumstance.

Fig.30AnexerciseinreadingtheMS408font:

ThekeycharacteristicsoftheMS408manuscript.

• Dedicatedpunctuationmarksarelacking,exceptforsingleletterabbreviations:e.g.‘t’

forterminus.

• Uppercaseandlowercaseletterdifferentiationisabsent.

• Differentletterandphraseformsareusedtodenotepunctuation,aswellassentence

structure.

• Thesymbolsareproto-Italic,combiningvariousAncientalphabeticpointsoforigin:

Latin,Greek,Arabic,PhoenicianandSemitic.

• Thelackofdoubleconsonantswasanindicatoroflikelylanguage,duetotheir

abandonmentduringtheEarlyMediaeval(DarkAges).

• ThelanguageisVulgarLatinorproto-Romance,whichhasbeenabsorbedintothe

modernRomancelanguagesandsomenon-Romancelanguages.

• Themanuscriptalphabetisrelativelysmall(15characters)andlackssomestandard

modernphonemes,whichhasresultedinhighambiguityofmeaninginwordsand

phrases.

• Themanuscriptistheonlyknowndocumentwritteninproto-Romancelanguageand

usingproto-Italiclettersymbolsasitswritingsystem.


43

Symbol-ItalickeyforMS408.

Symbol Italic Symbol Italic

a(trapped)

A(free)

ais Aus

æ (ae, a, e, i)

D

e(short)

e’e(intonation)

e,ee(long)

I

l(ll)

Ele(elle)

m(mm)

Eme(emme)

n(nn)

O

p(pp)

Epe(eppe)

qu Eque

r(rr)

s/z(ss,zz)

s/z(ss,zz)

s/z(ss,zz)

sa/za T(tt)

ta U


44

References.

Allen,S.W.2003.VoxLatina–aguidetothepronunciationofClassicalLatin(2nded.).

Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.ISBN0-521-37936-9

Amancio,D.R.,Altmann,E.G.,Rybski,D.,Oliveira,O.N.,Costa,LdF.2013.Probingthestatistical

propertiesofunknowntexts:applicationtotheVoynichManuscript.PloSOne.Doi:

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067310

Barlow,M.2010.TheVoynichManuscript:byVoynich?Cryptologia.Vol.10.No.4.Pp.210-216.

Barschius,G.1637.LetterofcorrespondencefromalchemistatthecourtofRudolfIIofPrague,

GeorgiusBarschiustoJesuitscholarAthanasiusKircher,withcopiedexcerptsofthemanuscript

forKirchertotranslate.TranscriptionfromLatintoEnglish:doi:

http://philipneal.net/voynichsources/barschius_1637_english/

Bauer,C.2012.100yearstimestwo:AlanTuringandtheVoynichManuscript.Cryptologia.Vol.

36.No.2.Pp.85-87.

Brumbaugh,R.S.1975.Thesolutionofthe“RogerBacon”cipher.TheYaleUniversityLibrary

Gazette.Vol.49.No.4.Pp.347-355.

Clemens,R.,Harkness,D.2016.TheVoynichManuscript.BeineckeLibraryandYaleUniversity.

ISBN:9780300217230.

Cummings,M.2016.MysteriousVoynichManuscriptreborninfacsimileedition.YaleNews.Doi:

http://news.yale.edu/2016/10/31/mysterious-voynich-manuscript-reborn-facsimile-edition

D’imperio,M.E.1976.TheVoynichManuscript:anelegantenigma.AegeanParkPress.California.

Garel,A.2011.TheVoynichManuscriptthroughanintersemioticapproach:atranslation.World

Literature404.Doi:http://journals.sfu.ca/wl404/index.php/book/article/view/29

Guy,J.B.M.1991.StatisticalpropertiesoftwofoliosoftheVoynichManuscript.Cryptologia.Vol.

15.No.3.Pp.207-218.

Guy,J.B.M.1997.Thedistributionofsigns‘c’and‘o’intheVoynichManuscript:evidencefora

reallanguage?Cryptologia.Vol.21.No.1.Pp.51-54.


45

Halliwell,J.,Crossley,J.,Bailey,J.,JamesM.(Editors).2013.JohnDee’sdiary,catalogueof

manuscriptsandselectedletters(originallypublished1842).CambridgeUniversityPress.ISBN:

9781108050562.

Joven,E.2006.Thebookofgodandphysics:anoveloftheVoynichmystery.WilliamMorrow&Co.

ISBN:0061456861.

Kennedy,G.,Churchill,R.2006.TheVoynichManuscript.Themysteriouscodethathasdefied

interpretationforcenturies.SimonandSchuster.

Kircher,A.1639.LetterofcorrespondencefromJesuitscholarAnthanasiusKirchertoJesuit

priestTheodorusMoretusuponreceiptofthemanuscript.TranscriptionfromLatintoEnglish:

doi:http://philipneal.net/voynichsources/kircher_1639_english/

Landini,G.2001.EvidenceoflinguisticstructureintheVoynichManuscript,usingspectral

analysis.Cryptologia.Vol.25.No.4.Pp.275-295.

Montemurro,M.A.,Zanette,D.H.2013.Keywordandco-occurrencepatternsintheVoynich

Manuscript:aninformation-theoreticalanalysis.PloSOne.Doi:

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0066344

Pelling,N.2006.ThecurseoftheVoynich.Thesecrethistoryofthe‘World’sMostMysterious

Manuscript’.CompellingPress.ISBN:9780955316005

Reeds,J.2010.WilliamF.Friedman’stranscriptionoftheVoynichManuscript.Cryptologia.Vol.

19.No.1.Pp.1-23.

Reddy,S.,Knight,K.2011.WhatweknowabouttheVoynichManuscript.LaTeCH'11Proceedings

ofthe5thACL-HLTWorkshoponLanguageTechnologyforCulturalHeritage,SocialSciences,and

Humanities.Pp.78-86.ISBN:9781937284046.

Rugg,G.2004.Aneleganthoax?ApossiblesolutiontotheVoynichManuscript.Cryptologia.Vol.

28.No.1.Pp.31-46.

Rugg,G,2004.ThemysteryoftheVoynichManuscript.ScientificAmerican.Vol.291.No.1.Pp.

104-109.


46

Rugg,G.,Taylor,G.2016.HoaxingstatisticalfeaturesoftheVoynichManuscript.Cryptologia.Vol.

41.No.3.Pp.247-268.

Russell-Wood,A.J.R.1992.ThePortugueseEmpire,1415-1808:aworldonthemove.TheJohns

HopkinsUniversityPress.ISBN:0801859557.

Schinner,A.2007.TheVoynichManuscript:evidenceofthe‘HoaxHypothesis’.Cryptologia.Vol.

31.No.2.Pp.104-197.

Schmeh,K.2013.AmilestoneinVoynichManuscriptresearch:Voynich100ConferenceinMonte

PorzioCatone,Italy.Cryptologia.Vol.37.No.3.

Williams,R.L.2010.AnoteontheVoynichManuscript.Cryptologia.Vol.23.No.4.Pp.305-309.

Bibliography.

Clark,A.C.(1910).ThecursusinMediaevalandVulgarLatin.ClarendonPress.Pre-ISBN.

Gildersleeve,B.L.,Lodge,G.(1867).LatinGrammar.Macmillan&Co.ThirdEdition1903.Pre-

ISBN.

Grandgent,C.H.(1907).AnintroductiontoVulgarLatin.Heath’sModernLanguageSeries.D.C.

Heath&Co.Publishers.Pre-ISBN.

Herman,J.(1967).VulgarLatin.(TranslatedbyRogerWright:2000).PennStateUniversityPress.

ISBN:9780271020013.

Herman,J.(2005).FromLatintotheRomancelanguages:newhistoricallinguisticstudies.De

Gruyter.ISBN:9783484504998.

Lathrop,T.(2006).TheevolutionofSpanish.Cervantes&Co.ISBN:978-1-58977-014-0

Muller,H.F.(1929).AchronologyofVulgarLatin.MaxNiemeyerVerlag.Pre-ISBN.

Muller,H.F.,Taylor,P.(1932).AchrestomathyofVulgarLatin.D.C.Heath&Co.Pre-ISBN.

Quirk,R.J.(2006).TheAppendixProbi;ascholar’sguidetotextandcontext.CuestaBooks.ISBN:

1-58871-109-9


47

Wright,R.(1982).LateLatinandearlyRomanceinSpainandCarolingianFrance.FrancisCairns.

ISBN:0-905205-12-X

Wright,R[Editor].(1991).LatinandtheRomancelanguagesintheearlyMiddleAges(Summary

oftheRutgerUniversityConference,1989).PennStateUniversityPress.ISBN:9780271029870.

linguistic missing links: instruction in decrypting

Documents