colorless green sunflowers confuse furiously

February 16, 2004 6:20 PM

Voynich manuscript detemined to be a hoax... maybe? Discussed here previously, this cryptic document has been intriguing researchers worldwide. In December scientists determined that the text could have been produced using a Cardan Grille and look to known prankster and alchemist Edward Kelley as the likely agent of this deception. But the question still remains, is it encoded gibberish, or encoded something else?
posted by jessamyn (11 comments total)

Great post. Thanks!
posted by homunculus at 7:36 PM on February 16, 2004

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.

in Swedish "får får får" is an actual question. ('do sheep have sheep?')
posted by dabitch at 8:16 PM on February 16, 2004

and... and... and it's time to throw another brat on my cardan grille.
posted by quonsar at 8:20 PM on February 16, 2004

Repeating words? Very, very, very strange indeed!
posted by SPrintF at 8:33 PM on February 16, 2004

I want to believe there is meaning. There is something in us that wants it to be more than a load of gibberish.

However, given that some of the world's smartest code-breakers have attacked this (some who have broken very sophisticated 20th century codes) and that there is now a plausible theory of how it could have been generated in the 16th century - strong weight goes to the gibberish theory.

This won't go away though. As the article states, it will never be possible to prove that it is nonsense.
posted by vacapinta at 8:54 PM on February 16, 2004

Miguel where Quonsar had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on Matt. Punctuate at will.
posted by cbrody at 9:06 PM on February 16, 2004

There Ain't No Necronomicon!
posted by moonbiter at 9:10 PM on February 16, 2004

Now this thread is exactly why I was having MeFi withdrawl. I've long been fascinated by the Voynich Manuscript. Fantastic post Jessamyn!
posted by greengrl at 6:09 AM on February 17, 2004

Well, well, well. Three holes in the ground. Fascinating!
posted by carter at 7:04 AM on February 17, 2004

Athe wirud uco suma sivuto I ruhil imiv
Usol eg atib I afecez I uquzi a pesaze citod of iyuf inoreb ec the I uluq umuro. Ayi the qunepe duni a mo jolex iyoyiy I the ilage the xa quw. Epapiz aqugas I iyojij ij iyeva ja zok iy avum ocifi. Adopec of ocad a ex osi vaquze I petab edew av a ohok a odemi tiyiqu piwe pofite kig. Un abeyem eyo qumey ujoy a odo yohe gomol amunam ohagi remiha. Afitox the awu juveb ununeq a urubov the ula miraki jicaj oj unek. Of apaqun I usey a ujilan og I etutux. Usom iwite xoki jotoye jalec a iquxuw I afipu hodivu qu javit uzazid iman avopoy efu a quxowe voquf.

Shantih shantih shantih
posted by languagehat at 8:12 AM on February 17, 2004

any of the Dutch mefiosos remember that Dadaist poem from the 1960's sometime, that one has to learn when studying Dutch these days? It's like that whole poem is made up of the same three or fours words, over and over and over... It might be funny to quote in this context.
posted by dabitch at 8:16 AM on February 17, 2004