Why I think that the copyist(s)/scribe(s) did not fully understand the material

[Jorge_Stolfi]

Someone on Reddit asked whether the VMS could be a copy. My first thought was that the copyist(s) may not have been familiar with the “writing system” and therefore created a “blind copy.” In other words, he / they copied it without understanding it. If that were the case, I wouldn't be surprised if errors such as overlooked or misplaced labels occurred. Of course, this is just speculation in the end.

I am quite convinced by now that the Scribe who put the VMS to vellum did not understand any of the contents -- including the language and the encryption.  He presumably had been trained on the alphabet, but may not even have known how the signs should be pronounced.

There are other cases of obvious errors in the Zodiac section, where the Scribe forgot to draw the left arms of some nymphs and therefore the stars that they were supposed to hold.  In a couple of cases the mistake was partly fixed by whoever applied the light yellow paint.   Here is a write-up from some time ago:

---

  Every nymph on f72r2 is holding or touching a standard star with the
  left hand; except the outer one at 04:00 and the inner one at 01:30,
  who are also missing their left arms entirely. The star of outer one
  at 04:00 is missing entirely. The stars of the the outer nymph at
  09:30 and the inner one at 01:30 are missing the penned outline and
  instead are fully painted with the yel. Most other stars have a yel
  splot (which varies in intensity, sometimes being almost invisible),
  and several have a dot core.

---

  Every nymph on f72r3, but two, is pointing to or holding a standard
  star with the left hand. The two exceptions are the nymph in the
  middle band of figures at 03:00 and the one in the outer band at
  08:30, who are missing both the star and the left arm.

---