Greetings, fellow scholars.
I see that the rules of the forum require the subject to be the first line of the text to be translated. I have only one line. You will object that it's not Latin. True. Here's the context.
A colleague has given me the assignment to translate (into English) the first line of folio f6v of the Voynich manuscript. The assumptions are that:
(a) the text is in a language descended from Latin and used in the 15th century in the Mediterranean area, probably in southern Italy
(b) the characters can be transliterated by means of a key which my colleague has provided
(c) the text refers to a common plant which was harvested for food in the Mediterranean at that time.
In terms of letter frequencies, the key is at variance with classical Latin, in the following respects:
* a, e, o and s are greatly over-represented
* i, t and u are greatly under-represented
* b and c are absent.
Taking the key as provided, my first attempt at a raw transliteration is (as shown in the subject line) as follows:
loasA t as éeelas doas êos éapéA t éeas éas oméA
where:
* A (which looks like 9 or q, and generally is a terminal character) denotes "free a"
* a (which looks like a) denotes "trapped a" (an "a" within a word)
* e (which looks like c) is a short e
* é (which looks like ct) is a long e
* t is probably a full stop (UK) or period (US)
* ê is a long e with a superscript that looks like a 9.
I am considering the possibilities that:
* the é could alternatively be et, ec or ei, in which case the transliteration might read:
loasA t as eteelas doas êtos etapetA t eteas etas ometA
loasA t as eceelas doas êcos ecapecA t eceas etas omecA
loasA t as eieelas doas êios eiapeiA t eieas eias omeiA
* the terminal s could be the Latin suffix -is or -us
* the terminal A could be the Latin enclitic -que or possibly a catch-all for the Latin accusative or genetive suffix.
I would welcome any ideas from speakers of Latin or modern Romance languages (I speak French and Romanian and can read Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and a few words of Neapolitan).
I see that the rules of the forum require the subject to be the first line of the text to be translated. I have only one line. You will object that it's not Latin. True. Here's the context.
A colleague has given me the assignment to translate (into English) the first line of folio f6v of the Voynich manuscript. The assumptions are that:
(a) the text is in a language descended from Latin and used in the 15th century in the Mediterranean area, probably in southern Italy
(b) the characters can be transliterated by means of a key which my colleague has provided
(c) the text refers to a common plant which was harvested for food in the Mediterranean at that time.
In terms of letter frequencies, the key is at variance with classical Latin, in the following respects:
* a, e, o and s are greatly over-represented
* i, t and u are greatly under-represented
* b and c are absent.
Taking the key as provided, my first attempt at a raw transliteration is (as shown in the subject line) as follows:
loasA t as éeelas doas êos éapéA t éeas éas oméA
where:
* A (which looks like 9 or q, and generally is a terminal character) denotes "free a"
* a (which looks like a) denotes "trapped a" (an "a" within a word)
* e (which looks like c) is a short e
* é (which looks like ct) is a long e
* t is probably a full stop (UK) or period (US)
* ê is a long e with a superscript that looks like a 9.
I am considering the possibilities that:
* the é could alternatively be et, ec or ei, in which case the transliteration might read:
loasA t as eteelas doas êtos etapetA t eteas etas ometA
loasA t as eceelas doas êcos ecapecA t eceas etas omecA
loasA t as eieelas doas êios eiapeiA t eieas eias omeiA
* the terminal s could be the Latin suffix -is or -us
* the terminal A could be the Latin enclitic -que or possibly a catch-all for the Latin accusative or genetive suffix.
I would welcome any ideas from speakers of Latin or modern Romance languages (I speak French and Romanian and can read Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and a few words of Neapolitan).