World's Most Mysterious Book May Be A Hoax (Voynich)

Nature ^ | 12-17-2003 | John Whitfield

[blam]

World's most mysterious book may be a hoax

The Voynich manuscript may be elegant gibberish.

17 December 2003
JOHN WHITFIELD

Using a Cardan grille the manuscript could have been written in three months. © G. Rugg

A strange sixteenth-century book may be cunningly crafted nonsense, says a computer scientist. Gordon Rugg has used the techniques of Elizabethan espionage to recreate the Voynich manuscript, which has stumped code-breakers and linguists for nearly a century1.

"I've shown that a hoax is a feasible explanation," says Rugg, who works at Keele University, UK. "Now it's up to believers in a code to produce evidence to support their ideas." He suspects that English adventurer Edward Kelley produced the Voynich to con Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor and collector of antiquities, out of a fortune in gold.

The explanation is plausible, but not conclusive, say Voynich scholars. "It's an excellent piece of work," says Philip Neal, a former medievalist based in London. "I haven't given up hope that the manuscript contains meaning, but this makes it less likely."

Page turner

The Voynich manuscript is often described as the world's most mysterious book. It is hand-written in a unique alphabet, about 250 pages long, and contains pictures of unrecognizable flowers, naked nymphs and astrological symbols.

The manuscript first appeared in the late 1500s, when Rudolph II bought it in Prague from an unknown seller for 600 ducats - about 3.5 kilograms of gold, worth more than US$50,000 today. The book passed from Rudolph to noblemen and scholars, before disappearing in the late 1600s.

It surfaced again around 1912, when US book dealer Wilfrid Voynich bought it. The manuscript was donated to Yale University after Voynich's death.

No one has worked out whether Voynichese is a code, an idiosyncratic translation of a known tongue, or gibberish. The text contains some features that are not seen in any language. The most common words are often repeated two or three times, for example - the equivalent of English using 'and and and' - giving weight to the hoax theory.

On the other hand, some aspects, such as the pattern of word lengths and the ways in which characters and syllables occur with each other, are similar to real languages. "Many people have believed that it is too complicated to be a hoax - that it would have taken some mad alchemist years to get such regularity," says Rugg.

Table setting

But this complexity could have been produced easily, Rugg demonstrates, with an encryption device invented around 1550 called a Cardan grille. This is a table of characters. Moving a piece of card with holes cut in it over the table makes words. Gaps in the table ensure different-length words.

Using such grilles on table of Voynichese syllables, Rugg has produced a language with many, although not all, of the manuscript's features. About three months' work would have been enough to produce the entire book, he says.

"It's an interesting angle, but it's too early to say whether it's correct," says Nick Pelling, a computer programmer based in Surbiton, UK, who also studies cryptography and the Voynich.

To prove that the manuscript is a hoax, one would need to produce entire sections using this technique, says Pelling. Tweaking the grilles and tables should make this possible, reckons Rugg.

Code book

It seems that the Voynich resists deciphering attempts because its author knew enough about codes to make the text plausible yet hard to crack.

The book appears to contain cross-referencing, just the kind of thing that cryptographers look for. The characters of Voynichese are also ambiguously written, so it is hard to work out how large the alphabet is, and drawing naked figures makes it impossible to date the text by styles of dress.

I haven't given up hope that the manuscript contains meaning Philip Neal, medievalist

The chief suspect for producing the book is known to have used Cardan grilles. As well as a cryptographer and inventor of languages, Edward Kelley was a forger, mystic, alchemist, mercenary and wife-swapper. He travelled to Prague to meet with Rudolph in 1584, and may have sold him the manuscript then. Kelley was lost to history after escaping from prison at the end of the sixteenth century.

"If it's a hoax Kelley is the obvious candidate," says Neal. But he adds that Rudolph bought many alchemical texts that are far cruder forgeries than the Voynich manuscript. "Rudolph was easily fooled. If the Voynich was a hoax by Kelley, it looks a bit like overkill," Neal says.

[white rose]

I may be wrong, but this "hoax" theory strikes me as classic CYA. It must be highly embarrassing to all these "experts" that the world contains mysteries they can't glibly explain away.

[bert]

"and thusly, Gargantua was born out of his mother's left ear"

[dangus]

Looks vaguely elvish, don't it?

[happydogdesign]

Amazing! My PC screen displays that exact code when I type in "regedit"! That's how that damn Bill Gates got Windows!

[billbears]

bump

[billbears]

bump

[boris]

"Which means: Map To Atlantis."

No, it means "Klaatu says 'Cool It'."

[pabianice]

REVEALED! The DNC plan to beat President Bush in 2004...

[Sacajaweau]

What is this?? I see what looks like a washboard on page 2 and a bucket??

[yankeedame]

LOL!!

[Agnes Heep]

Looks like a production of the juvenile Hieronymus Bosch.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

[KarlInOhio]

The Voynich manuscript may be elegant gibberish.

Oops. Misread that as "The Voinovich manuscript may be elegant gibberish." If it was, the only difference between it and the usual Voinovich statement is the "elegant" part.

[Charlotte Corday]

the formula for a universal solvent

In what sort of container does one store a universal solvent? :-)

[farmfriend]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs
List for articles regarding early civilizations , life of all forms, - dinosaurs - etc.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this ping list.

[woody9]

great post! I couldn't stop laughing.

(there will be many who don't get it)

[Hegemony Cricket]

"In what sort of container does one store a universal solvent?"

And a couple of seasonal imponderables:

If you were to give the gift of wrapping paper, would you need to wrap it?

If you did wrap it, how would the recipient know when to stop unwrapping?

[zeugma]

Tolkien was a quite the linguist. He invented the elvish tongue and others used in the book. The forward on my copy of The Simarilion details some of his reasons for inventing a language completely separate from any known one. What it mostly boils down to is "because I can".

[Rutabega]

(Like me!)

Rats! I hate not belonging to the smarty-pants club! (tell me tell me tell me!!!) (please?)

[Consort]

..."To Serve Man" (Alien recipes).