Here I analyse the two verbum potentiae in terms of the most basic elements of the script: curve and line.
It was long ago noted that the glyphs in the script - leaving aside the special set of gallows glyphs - are made from the basic quill strokes of curve (c-curve) or line (minim or backslash) with various modifications. This was explored with more thoroughness by Brian Cham and his 'Curve and Line System' in 2014.
He demonstrates structural patterns of curve- and line-based glyphs that extend throughout the text. He found, in fact, that over 60% of the text follows a regular pattern, and another 30% only deviates from the pattern by one glyph. It is, overall, a strong pattern. There is unquestionably some structure that is sub-glyph, some system of curves and lines at the most fundamental level.
How are we to understand this? What does it indicate?
Is it a scribal device that makes the script easy to write? Arguably, c-curve and minim (line) are basic units in the scribe's craft and so it is not surprising or untoward that a script would be designed from them. That is, there might merely be technical reasons for this choice.
My approach, however, has been to consider this phenomenon from a PHILOSOPHICAL perspective. What might these basic pen-strokes mean, or symbolize?
My answer is that they have been selected, and deployed, as a primal duality illustrating the COINCIDENTIA OPPOSITORUM.
This Neoplatonic doctrine was especially advanced in our period (first half of 1400s) by Nicholas of Cusa. He specifically - and quite famously - explained it in simple geometric terms, thus:
A circle and a line are opposites.
Every part of a circle is curved. There are no lines.
Every part of a line is straight. There are no curves.
But, in a very large circle - or the biggest circle one can imagine, the circle in the mind of God - the distinction disappears. Any section of the radius will seem like a straight line. And it is, but it is also a curve at the same time: the opposites coincide.
This geometric illustration was, indeed, the leifmotif of Nicholas of Cusa's entire metaphysics. Curves and lines are metaphysical principles.
The extension and application of this in Neoplatonic thought is that the relation between the two expresses the relation between Forms and particulars. Cusanus applies it to Christian theology, thus:
The circle is the divine and the line is the human.
They seem opposites, but they are reconciled in Christ.
What is relevant to the Voynich manuscript are such parallelisms as:
The celestial order moves in circles. The terrestrial order is rectalinear.
They seem opposites, but there is an order uniting what is above and what is below.
In any case, the idea that circles represent the heavenly, in contrast to the square, which represents the earthly, is so widespread in Christian and other iconography as to be a truism. (A circular nimbus denotes a holy person, a square nimbus denotes a mundane person, etc.)
Such associations are immediate and obvious in the intellectual climate of the early Renaissance.
I propose, therefore, that the two basic elements of the Voynich script - curve and line - have these associations. They express a primal binary.
The c-curve = celestial
The line = terrestrial
The manuscript is devoted to this primordial duality: the herbs of the earth, and the cycles of the heavens. (And, as well, terrestrial nymphs and their celestial counterparts.)
The script is designed, from the ground up, accordingly. It is designed to express the interplay of curve and line, above and below, heaven and earth. I contend that this is a natural symbolism for the period, even if it is unfamiliar to modern ways of thinking.
* * *
On this basis we can divide the glyphs of the Voynich up according to whether, and to what degree, they are terrestrial or celestial in nature. The glyph [e] is celestial. It is entirely, and just, curve. Whereas the glyph [a] is a combination of the c-curve and the line: the celestial and the terrestrial meet. And so on.
* * *
Now let us consider the two keywords identified in previous studies, the two verbum potentiae upon which the text is based: QOKEEDY and CHOLDAIIN.
Previously, we have determined that QOKEEDY is the tongue of the celestial nymphs. CHOLDAIIN is the (related and cognate) tongue of the terrestrial nymphs. The text is a (purported) record of their interchange.
Looking now at the glyphs in these keywords, in view of the above understanding of the curves and lines, and we notice:
QOKEEDY features double [e]
CHOLDAIIN features double [i]
The two keywords stand in contrast on this point. Both have double or duplicated glyphs. In QOKEEDY it is the curve [e] and in CHOLDAIIN it is the line [i]. I propose that this contrast is intended and marks one word as celestial in nature and the other terrestrial.
Moreover, consistent with this, QOKEEDY contains no elements of the line at all. The glyphs [q] and the gallows glyph are a separate set. The glyph [o] is two facing curves and the glyph [d] is also all curves. The final glyph [y] is a curve with a tail. No letters in this word are based in [i].
So, all the glyphs based on the line are found in CHOLDAIIN and its permutations. ([sh] is a permutation of [ch], for example.) The glyphs [l], [a] and [n] contain lines, and the glyph [r] is a variants on [n]. All the letters based on [i] are in CHOLDAIIN (and its variants.)
Furthermore, every c-curve based glyph in CHOLDAIIN is modified. There are no simple, pure c-curves. The double c-curve in [ch] has a flat bench (ligature) at the top in distinct contrast to the un-joined c-curves in [ee] in QOKEEDY. [o], [d] and [a] are all modified. The terrestrial word contains celestial elements, but not pure and unadulterated.
Again: I propose that this contrast is intended - by design - and marks one word as celestial in nature and the other terrestrial. The glyphs they contain mark them as one or the other.
The contrast is there in Brian Cham's apriori analysis. QOKEEDY contains no line glyphs. Further, by his analysis, it shows an uninterrupted series of c-curves ending in the [y]. In CHOLDAIIN such sequences are interrupted, and specifically the flow changes from c-curves to lines at [a].
I want to bring a philosophical perspective to this. Put simply: the c-curves and lines represent the celestial and the terrestrial respectively, and the keywords of the text - the verbum potentiae - have been constructed accordingly from the appropriate glyphs.
Some time ago I made a video on these themes, but at that stage my ideas were undeveloped. The video still makes valid observations and can be found here:
R.B.
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