I offer Ladin as a possible or likely language in the background of the Voynich manuscript because, on my reading, the document makes use of and alludes to certain mythological ideas that were only preserved in the Ladin language; Ladin myths in the Ladin tongue. Specifically, the Ladin people had a mythology concerning mountain nymphs as agents of the mythical King Lauren, who distribute the alpenglow of dawn light. This is what we see in the Voynich manuscript (joined with parallel Graceo-Roman nymph mythology). If that is the case, then Ladin must be one of the languages involved.
More generally, I make the case that the work comes from alpine northern Italy. In the 1400s Ladin was a widely spoken common tongue of the relevant region. Its oral tradition maintained a very rich and ancient herbal tradition.
I am very aware that the textual evidence does not allow for Ladin to be the basis of the Voynich language in any obvious way, but it remains my primary language of interest.
The following diagram summarizes just about everything that it is necessary to know about Ladin in the first instance. It is my contention that the Voynich manuscript comes out of this bed of languages:
*Ladin has developed from Vulgar Latin infused with pre-Roman Rhaetean.
*It is closely related to Romansch in the western alps of northern Italy (into Switzerland) and Friulian in the east near Venice. Ladin itself is spoken in the Dolomites.
*These languages splinter very readily into local dialects, often in neighboring alpine valleys.
* These languages were squeezed and marginalized by German intruding from the north and Gallo-Italian intruding from the south. German was and remains the dominant language in the region.
R.B.
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