Cheoltchedaiin

Towards the end of the Voynich ms., on page 114, we encounter one of the longest vords in the entire work. Here it is here:

There is every appearance that it is definitely intended to be a single vord. It seems unlikly to be a scribal error whereby a space has been omitted by accident. It is a single string of glyphs defined by two quite definite spaces at either end. The transcription therefore appears to be correct. The vord is: [cheoltchedaiin]

This unusual formation makes a mockery of any Vord template we might consider. Whether we use Stolfi’ grammar or any other model, this is a vord that does not fit. It is anomalous.

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Here I will consider it according to the DUAL PARADIGM method I have outlined in previous pages. This proposes that the Voynich text, and vords, are the meeting place of two distinct streams of text, one based on the model vord CHOLDAIIN and the other upon the model QOKEEDY. That is, there are two default vords; the text is pulled in two directions. Among vords, there are those based upon, or derived from, CHOLDAIIN, and those based upon QOKEEDY, but the majority of vords are a hybrid of both. A typical hybrid vord is: [qokaiin].

What we see in vords is the intermingling, the interweaving, of two threads, typically with elements of the two defaults intermixed, one intruding upon the other.

By the DUAL PARADIGM method we try to account for every vord as a meeting place of the two paradigms, the two streams, the two tendencies.

Here we will consider the monster vord [cheoltchedaiin] by this method. It provides a good illustration and is, in fact, a straightforward case. The breakdown I offer is as follows:

The vord is compounded of two vords both derived from the default CHOLDAIIN. The basic parts are:

CHOL + CHOLDAIIN

However, elements from the other default QOKEEDY intrude. For a start, the gallows glyph [k] has been imported:

CHOL + K + CHOLDAIIN

But, the gallows [k] has brought two glyphs [e] with it from QOKEEDY. In one case it has intruded into CHOL to become CHEOL, and in the other case it has replaced the [ol] in CHOLDAIIN to become CHEDAIIN – or it has replaced the [o] and the [l] has been dropped.

We can depict the vord in this way, with the intruding QOKEEDY elements highlighted in red.

cheoltchedaiin

For whatever reason, the intrusion of [k] and its accompanying [e] glyphs brings about – in this case – the compounding of the two original vords.

Usually, a gallows glyph will intrude into vords. Here it intrudes between vords. The glyph [k], we might say, replaces the SPACE between the two vords. This is a case that suggests the spaces between vords are not neutral.

It is clear, anyway, what has happened here. Two vords based upon the CHOLDAIIN paradigm have been imposed upon by elements from the other default, QOKEEDY, and the unusually long vord [cheoltchedaiin] is the result.

No single vord paradigm can account for such an unusual vord. It is better explained as the meeting of the two streams of text, a point of overlap. It is the overlapping that causes the compounding, specifically the intrusion of gallows [k] into the space between the vords. Why this happens here, and results in compounding here, but not elsewhere is unexplained.

Here is the complete line showing the vord in context. Elements from the CHOLDAIIN paradigm are shown in blue.

R. B.