Editing Voynich manuscript (section)

== Decipherment claims ==
Since the manuscript's modern rediscovery in 1912, there have been a number of claimed decipherings.

=== William Romaine Newbold ===
One of the earliest efforts to decode the book's code was made in 1921 by [[William Romaine Newbold]] from the [[University of Pennsylvania]]. His singular hypothesis held that the visible text is meaningless, but that each apparent "letter" is in fact constructed of a series of tiny markings discernible only under [[magnification]]. These markings were supposed to be based on [[ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[shorthand]], forming a second level of script that held the real content of the writing. Newbold claimed to have used this knowledge to work out entire paragraphs proving the authorship of Bacon and recording his use of a [[compound microscope]] four hundred years before [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek|van Leeuwenhoek]]. A circular drawing in the astronomical section depicts an irregularly shaped object with four curved arms, which Newbold interpreted as a picture of a galaxy, which could be obtained only with a [[telescope]].<ref name=Tiltman-1967 />

Newbold's analysis has since been dismissed as overly speculative<ref>{{cite web |title=William Romaine Newbold (1865–1926) |series=Penn Biographies |date=6 September 1926 |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]] |url=http://www.archives.upenn.edu/people/1800s/newbold_wm_romaine.html |access-date=8 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419231850/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/people/1800s/newbold_wm_romaine.html |archive-date=19 April 2016}}</ref> after [[John Matthews Manly]] of the [[University of Chicago]] pointed out{{when|date=November 2024}} serious flaws in his theory. For example, each shorthand character was assumed to have multiple interpretations, and as a result there was no reliable way to determine which was intended for any given case. Newbold's method also required rearranging letters at will until intelligible [[Latin language|Latin]] was produced. These factors alone ensure the system enough flexibility that nearly anything at all could be discerned from the [[microscopic]] markings. Although evidence of [[micrography]] using the [[Hebrew language]] can be traced as far back as the ninth century, it is nowhere near as compact or complex as the shapes Newbold made out. Close study of the manuscript revealed the markings to be artefacts caused by the way ink cracks as it dries on rough vellum. Perceiving significance in these artefacts can be attributed to [[pareidolia]]. Thanks to Manly's thorough refutation, the micrography theory is now generally disregarded.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kahn|1967|pp=867–869}}</ref>

=== Joseph Martin Feely ===
In 1943, Joseph Martin Feely published ''Roger Bacon's Cipher: The Right Key Found'', in which he claimed that the book was a scientific diary written by Roger Bacon. Feely's method posited that the text was a highly abbreviated medieval Latin written in a simple [[substitution cipher]].<ref name=D-Imperio-1978 />

=== Leonell C. Strong ===
[[Leonell C. Strong]], a cancer research scientist and amateur cryptographer, claimed that the solution to the Voynich manuscript was a "peculiar double system of arithmetical progressions of a multiple alphabet". Strong published a translation of two pages in 1947, and claimed that the [[plaintext]] revealed the Voynich manuscript to be written by the 16th-century English author [[Anthony Ascham (author)|Anthony Ascham]], whose works include ''A Little Herbal'', published in 1550. Notes released after his death reveal that the last stages of his analysis, in which he selected words to combine into phrases, were questionably subjective.<ref name=Winter-2015>{{cite book |last=Winter |first=Jay |year=2015 |title=The Complete Voynich Manuscript |edition=digitally enhanced researchers' |publisher=Lulu Press |isbn=978-1-329-60774-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FjnPCgAAQBAJ&q=dee+selling+manuscript+bacon&pg=PA249 |access-date=9 June 2016}}{{dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{rp|page=252}}

=== Robert S. Brumbaugh ===
In 1978, [[Robert Brumbaugh]], a professor of classical and medieval philosophy at Yale University, claimed that the manuscript was a forgery intended to fool Emperor Rudolf II into purchasing it, and that the text is Latin enciphered with a complex, two-step method.<ref name=D-Imperio-1978 />

=== John Stojko ===
In 1978, John Stojko published ''Letters to God's Eye'',<ref>{{harvnb|Stojko|1978}}</ref> in which he claimed that the Voynich Manuscript was a series of letters written in vowelless [[Ukrainian (language)|Ukrainian]].<ref name=Zandbergen-solvers>{{cite web |last=Zandbergen |first=René |title=Voynich MS – History of research of the MS |website=Voynich.nu |url=http://www.voynich.nu/solvers.html |access-date=8 June 2016|archive-date=10 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610164010/http://www.voynich.nu/solvers.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The theory caused some sensation among the Ukrainian diaspora at the time, and then in independent [[Ukraine]] after 1991.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Олена [Elena] |last=Русина [Rusina] |year=2011–2014 |script-title=uk:До "неможливих джерел" вітчизняної історії: ''Рукопис Войнича'' в українському контексті |trans-title=On the "impossible sources" of national history: The ''Voynich manuscript'' in the Ukrainian context |journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies |volume=32–33 |issue=Part&nbsp;2 |pages=611–618 |jstor=24711694 |language=Ukrainian}}</ref> However, the date Stojko gives for the letters, the lack of relation between the text and the images, and the general looseness in the method of decryption have all been criticised.<ref name=Zandbergen-solvers />

=== Stephen Bax ===
In January 2014, applied linguistics Professor Stephen Bax self-published a paper proposing a "provisional, partial decoding" of the Voynich Manuscript, proposing a translation for ten proper nouns and fourteen letters from the manuscript using techniques similar to those used to successfully translate [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]].<ref name=Bax2014>{{cite web |last1=Bax |first1=Stephen |date=January 2014 |title=A proposed partial decoding of the Voynich script |url=http://stephenbax.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Voynich-a-provisional-partial-decoding-BAX.pdf |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-date=21 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521160342/http://stephenbax.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Voynich-a-provisional-partial-decoding-BAX.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> He claimed the manuscript to be a treatise on nature, in a Near Eastern or Asian language, but no full translation was made before Bax's death in November 2017.<ref name=Rigby-2014-02-18>{{Cite news |last=Rigby |first=Nic |date=18 February 2014 |website=BBC News |title=Breakthrough over 600&nbsp;year-old mystery manuscript |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-26198471 |access-date=4 January 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055622/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-26198471 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Greg Kondrak ===
Greg Kondrak, a professor of natural language processing at the [[University of Alberta]], and his graduate student Bradley Hauer used [[computational linguistics]] in an attempt to decode the manuscript.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Artificial intelligence takes a crack at decoding the mysterious Voynich manuscript |magazine=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |date=31 January 2018 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/artificial-intelligence-takes-crack-mysterious-voynich-manuscript-180967983/ |access-date=2 February 2018 |archive-date=3 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203064107/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/artificial-intelligence-takes-crack-mysterious-voynich-manuscript-180967983/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Their findings were presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics in August 2017 in the form of an article suggesting that the manuscript's language is most likely [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], but encoded using alphagrams, i.e. alphabetically ordered [[anagram]]s. However, the team admitted that experts in medieval manuscripts who reviewed the work were not convinced.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mysterious-manuscript-decoded-computer-scientists-ai-a8180951.html |title=Mysterious 15th century manuscript finally decoded 600 years later |date=27 January 2018 |work=The Independent|access-date=27 January 2018|archive-date=27 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127184629/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mysterious-manuscript-decoded-computer-scientists-ai-a8180951.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hauer |first1=Bradley |last2=Kondrak |first2=Grzegorz |year=2016 |title=Decoding anagrammed texts written in an unknown language and script |journal=Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics |volume=4 |pages=75–86 |doi=10.1162/tacl_a_00084 |doi-access = free |url=https://transacl.org/ojs/index.php/tacl/article/view/821 |access-date = 27 January 2018 |archive-date = 28 January 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180128132541/https://transacl.org/ojs/index.php/tacl/article/view/821 |url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Computer scientist claims clues to deciphering mysterious Voynich manuscript |newspaper=[[The National Post]] |date=24 January 2018 |url=https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/computer-scientist-claims-clues-to-deciphering-mysterious-voynich-manuscript-2 |access-date=27 January 2019 |archive-date=13 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113081130/https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/computer-scientist-claims-clues-to-deciphering-mysterious-voynich-manuscript-2 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Nicholas Gibbs ===
In September 2017, television writer Nicholas Gibbs claimed to have decoded the manuscript as idiosyncratically abbreviated Latin.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Nicholas |last=Gibbs |date=5 September 2017 |title=Voynich manuscript: the solution |website=The Times Literary Supplement |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/voynich-manuscript-solution/ |access-date=10 September 2017|archive-date=11 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911003105/https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/voynich-manuscript-solution/ |url-status=live}}</ref> He declared the manuscript to be a mostly plagiarised guide to women's health.<ref name=":1" /> Scholars would go on to criticise Gibbs for patching together already-existing scholarship with a highly speculative and incorrect translation; Lisa Fagin Davis, director of the [[Medieval Academy of America]], stated that Gibbs' decipherment "doesn't result in Latin that makes sense."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Has a Mysterious Medieval Code Really Been Solved? |date=10 September 2017 |last=Zhang |first=Sarah |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/09/has-the-voynich-manuscript-really-been-solved/539310/ |access-date=12 September 2017 |lang=en-US |archive-date=12 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912142316/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/09/has-the-voynich-manuscript-really-been-solved/539310/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Davis added that she was "surprised the [[The Times Literary Supplement|TLS]] published it."<ref>{{cite news |last=Newitz |first=Annalee |date=10 September 2017 |title=So much for that Voynich manuscript "solution" |language=en-us |work=Ars Technica |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/09/experts-are-extremely-dubious-about-the-voynich-solution/ |access-date=12 September 2017 |archive-date=11 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911234813/https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/09/experts-are-extremely-dubious-about-the-voynich-solution/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Other researchers concurred.<ref name=":2" />

=== Ahmet Ardıç ===
In February 2018, Ahmet Ardıç, a [[Turkish Canadian]] electrical engineer with an interest in [[Turkic languages|Turkic linguistics]], claimed that the manuscript is written in a language variety derived from [[Old Turkic]].<ref name="Metro2018">{{cite web|url=http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary/2018/02/27/calgary-engineer-believes-he-s-cracked-the-mysterious-voynich-manuscript.html |title=Calgary man believes he's cracked the mysterious Voynich Manuscript |newspaper=[[StarMetro (newspaper)|Toronto Metro]] |agency=[[The Canadian Press]] |date=28 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305131142/http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary/2018/02/27/calgary-engineer-believes-he-s-cracked-the-mysterious-voynich-manuscript.html |archive-date=5 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Milliyet2018">{{cite web|url=https://www.milliyet.com.tr/gundem/bu-kitabin-sirri-600-yildir-cozulemiyor-2630390 |title=Bu kitabın sırrı 600 yıldır çözülemiyor |newspaper=[[Milliyet]] |agency=[[İhlas News Agency]] |date=19 March 2018 |accessdate=13 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=22 February 2018 |title=Voynich Manuscript Revealed (2018) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6keMgLmFEk | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211104/p6keMgLmFEk| archive-date=4 November 2021 | url-status=live |website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The text was written using "[[phonemic orthography]]", meaning the manuscript's author spelled out words as they were heard phonetically.<ref name="CNN2018">{{Cite web |first=Jane |last=Bracher |title=Will mystery of the medieval Voynich Manuscript ever be solved? |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/15/health/voynich-manuscript-mystery/index.html |access-date=14 July 2020 |website=CNN |date=15 June 2018|archive-date=14 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714070206/https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/15/health/voynich-manuscript-mystery/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=21 February 2019 |title=Has the Voynich Manuscript Finally Been Decoded?: Researchers Claim That the Mysterious Text Was Written in Phonetic Old Turkish |url=http://www.openculture.com/2019/02/has-the-voynich-manuscript-finally-been-decoded.html |access-date=14 July 2020 |website=Open Culture |archive-date=14 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714041107/http://www.openculture.com/2019/02/has-the-voynich-manuscript-finally-been-decoded.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Ardıç began deciphering the manuscript four years earlier with the help of his two sons. "Ahmet noticed that the words in the book appeared to be built of repetitive [[Root (linguistics)|roots]] with prefixes and suffixes added. It reminded him of his native Turkish [...] At first he found seven characters that were the same as Old Turkic, and slowly the language revealed itself [...] Other illustrations allowed them to match up Old Turkic words with the images pictured", reported [[The Canadian Press]].<ref name="Metro2018"/> Ardıç's team claimed to have deciphered and translated at least {{nowrap|300 words}} "and is confident there is now sufficient vocabulary to read at least 30% of the manuscript."<ref name="Milliyet2018"/><ref name="CNN2018"/> His submission to the journal ''Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Cultures'' was rejected in 2019.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Voynich Manuscript: Update and Q&A |date=1 August 2019 |medium=video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTTRsrzndTY | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211104/tTTRsrzndTY| archive-date=4 November 2021 | url-status=live |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

=== Gerard Cheshire ===
In May 2019, Gerard Cheshire, a biology research assistant at the [[University of Bristol]], claimed that the manuscript is written in a "calligraphic proto-Romance" language. He claimed to have deciphered the manuscript in two weeks using a combination of "lateral thinking and ingenuity."<ref>{{cite web |title=Bristol academic cracks Voynich code, solving century-old mystery of medieval text |date=May 2019 |website=EurekAlert |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-05/uob-bac051419.php |access-date=16 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515121010/https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-05/uob-bac051419.php |archive-date=15 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Cheshire |first=Gerard |year=2019 |title=The language and writing system of MS&nbsp;408 (Voynich) explained |journal=[[Romance Studies (journal)|Romance Studies]] |volume=37 |pages=30–67 |doi=10.1080/02639904.2019.1599566 |s2cid=166780758 |hdl=1983/a6f1af84-f023-405a-b1e8-448c01ef0673 |url=https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/201563069/Full_text_PDF_accepted_author_manuscript_.pdf |hdl-access=free |access-date=27 August 2021 |archive-date=28 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928040011/https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/201563069/Full_text_PDF_accepted_author_manuscript_.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Cheshire has suggested that the manuscript is "a compendium of information on herbal remedies, therapeutic bathing, and astrological readings"; that it contains numerous descriptions of medicinal plants<ref>{{Cite web |first=Gerard E. |last=Cheshire |date=January 2020 |title=Plant Series, No. 6. Manuscript MS&nbsp;408. ''Andromeda polifolia'' |url=https://www.academia.edu/41594847 |access-date=13 May 2020 |via=academia.edu |archive-date=30 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530161530/https://www.academia.edu/41594847 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Plant Series, No. 8. Manuscript MS&nbsp;408. ''Paris quadrifolia'' |first=Gerard E. |last=Cheshire |date=April 2020 |via=academia.edu |url=https://www.academia.edu/42787693 |access-date=13 May 2020|archive-date=13 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113081158/https://www.academia.edu/42787693/Plant_Series_No_8_Manuscript_MS408_Paris_quadrifolia |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |first=Gerard E. |last=Cheshire |date=June 2020 |title=Plant Series, No. 9. Manuscript MS&nbsp;408. ''Erodium malacoides'' |journal=Submitted |url=https://www.academia.edu/43403558 |access-date=13 May 2020 |via=academia.edu |archive-date=13 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113081129/https://www.academia.edu/43403558/Plant_Series_No_9_Manuscript_MS408_Erodium_malacoides |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |first=Gerard E. |last=Cheshire |date=June 2020 |title=Plant Series, No. 10. Manuscript MS&nbsp;408. ''Crepis vesicaria'' |journal=Submitted |via=academia.edu |url=https://www.academia.edu/43403603 |access-date=13 May 2020|archive-date=13 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113081143/https://www.academia.edu/43403603/Plant_Series_No_10_Manuscript_MS408_Crepis_vesicaria |url-status=live}}</ref> and passages that focus on female physical and mental health, reproduction, and parenting; and that the manuscript is the only known text written in [[proto-Romance]].<ref name="guardian20190516">{{cite news |first=Esther |last=Addley |date=16 May 2019 |title=Latin, Hebrew, ... proto-Romance? New theory on Voynich manuscript |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/may/16/latin-hebrew-proto-romance-new-theory-on-voynich-manuscript |access-date= 16 May 2019 |archive-date= 16 May 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190516000844/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/may/16/latin-hebrew-proto-romance-new-theory-on-voynich-manuscript |url-status= live}}</ref> He further claimed: "The manuscript was compiled by Dominican nuns as a source of reference for [[Maria of Castile, Queen of Aragon]]."<ref name="bbc160519">{{cite news |title=Medieval manuscript code 'unlocked' by Bristol academic |date=16 May 2019 |website=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-48284012 |access-date= 16 May 2019 |archive-date= 16 May 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190516080658/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-48284012 |url-status= live}}</ref>

In June 2023, Cheshire published his translation of the foldout illustration on page 158.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cheshire |first=Gerard |date=May 2023 |title=The Medieval Map and the Mercy Mission: A Complete Translation of the Voynich Manuscript Map |publisher=Gerard Cheshire |isbn=978-1-399-95499-0}}<br/>{{cite web |title=Facsimile of volcano map in Voynich manuscript |page=158 |url=https://archive.org/details/voynich/158.jpg |access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref>
He claims that it depicts a volcano, and theorises that it places the manuscript's creators near the island of [[Vulcano]] which was an active volcano during the 15th century.<ref>{{cite web |title=Consonants & Vowels, Castles & Volcanoes. - lingbuzz/004381. |date=December 2018 |access-date=16 June 2021 |url=https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/004381 |last1=Cheshire |first1=Gerard |archive-date=8 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608214758/https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/004381 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, experts in medieval documents disputed this interpretation vigorously.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=No, someone hasn't cracked the code of the mysterious Voynich manuscript |last=Ouellette |first=Jennifer |date=15 May 2019 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/05/no-someone-hasnt-cracked-the-code-of-the-mysterious-voynich-manuscript/ |access-date=17 May 2019 |archive-date=17 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517012318/https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/05/no-someone-hasnt-cracked-the-code-of-the-mysterious-voynich-manuscript/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Approached for comment, Lisa Fagin Davis gave this explanation:

{{Blockquote
|text=As with most would-be Voynich interpreters, the logic of this proposal is circular and aspirational: he starts with a theory about what a particular series of glyphs might mean, usually because of the word's proximity to an image that he believes he can interpret. He then investigates any number of medieval Romance-language dictionaries until he finds a word that seems to suit his theory. Then he argues that because he has found a Romance-language word that fits his hypothesis, his hypothesis must be right. His "translations" from what is essentially gibberish, an amalgam of multiple languages, are themselves aspirational rather than being actual translations. |source=15 May 2019, ''[[Ars Technica]]''.<ref name=":0" />}}

The University of Bristol subsequently removed a reference to Cheshire's claims from its website,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statement re: Voynich research paper |website=www.bristol.ac.uk |publisher=[[University of Bristol]] |language=en-GB |url=http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2019/may/voynich-manuscript.html |access-date=22 May 2019 |archive-date=21 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521132852/http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2019/may/voynich-manuscript.html |url-status=live}}</ref> referring, in a statement, to concerns about the validity of the research and stating: "This research was entirely the author's own work and is not affiliated with the University of Bristol, the School of Arts nor the Centre for Medieval Studies".<ref>{{cite web |title=Voynich manuscript translation claims raise 'concerns' |date=17 May 2019 |website=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-48309665 |access-date=17 May 2019|archive-date=16 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616070720/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-48309665 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Tristan |last=Cork |date=17 May 2019 |title=University withdraws announcement researcher had cracked the Voynich Manuscript |website=Bristol Live |url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/voynich-manuscript-cracked-university-claim-2878183 |access-date=17 May 2019|archive-date=17 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517142929/https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/voynich-manuscript-cracked-university-claim-2878183 |url-status=live}}</ref>