03-03-2019, 07:32 PM
Perhaps my previous comment was too roundabout.
I simply don't think we have yet built up a sufficiently nuanced understanding of the codicology of the Voynich Manuscript's 'big three' marginalia to be able to say precisely what happened to it to leave it in the state we now see it in.
Starting by asserting that it is obviously German, Latin, Voynichese, or even michitonese is surely just a recipe for disaster. The only part of these marginalia texts that seems unequivocally original and unemended to me is the "ahia maria" part, which would seem not to be German in any way, so I think there's clearly more foundational work waiting to be done here.
I simply don't think we have yet built up a sufficiently nuanced understanding of the codicology of the Voynich Manuscript's 'big three' marginalia to be able to say precisely what happened to it to leave it in the state we now see it in.
Starting by asserting that it is obviously German, Latin, Voynichese, or even michitonese is surely just a recipe for disaster. The only part of these marginalia texts that seems unequivocally original and unemended to me is the "ahia maria" part, which would seem not to be German in any way, so I think there's clearly more foundational work waiting to be done here.