Numerical Model: Version One

Let us try simple number systems - on the assumption Voynichese is simple, in the end - before venturing into complex possibilities. 

The assumption of simplicity is founded in the fact the text seems both easy to write and easy to read. 

The assumption is that whatever information is recorded in the text must be easy to read directly from the page without additional or complicated calculations. That is why it has been recorded in the way it has. The glyph set has been designed thus.

So, for a start, we will stick with whole numbers and simple arithmetic. 

Whole numbers: we already have the numbers 4, 8 and 9 provided in the glyph set, namely the glyphs [q], [d] and [y]. 

(Astrological numbering prefers whole numbers with lots of divisors, like 8 and 9.)

Simple arithmetic: we have already proposed that the suffix [dy] indicates 8 x 9 = 72, a simple arithmetic operation. 

The question is: of what wider system are these number glyphs part? 

I propose that we can reason our way to a solution. 

* * *

Specifically - following my previous studies - the task is to provide a cogent account of the two paradigms QOKEEDY and CHOLDAIIN as numerical entities, and together as a single numerical system. 

To this end, we begin by adopting the most radical model: all the glyphs, except for the gallows glyphs, are numbers. 

Only the four gallows glyphs are letters, and we could just as easily designate them A, B, C, D. Everything else is numbers. 

The model for words is that the gallows glyph marks a quality or thing, and the rest of the glyphs mark a quantity of some sort. 

There may be two quantities reported - one before the gallows (a prefix), or one after (a suffix) - but all other glyphs are numbers. 

The glyphs [q], [d] and [y] - the numbers 4, 8 and 9 - are our base numbers and provided us with a guide. 

We can reason our way to a solution because (if) these words are, in fact, FORMULAE. 

* * *

Here is a first feeble attempt:

QOKEEDY - The Formula for the Quarter Days

QO = (4 x 90) (quarters)

____

K = solstice

E = 180 deg.

____

DY = (8 x 9 = 72)

CHOLDAIIN: The Formula for the Half-Quarter Days

CH = (45 + 45) = 90 (half-quarters)

O = 90

L = 15 (midpoint)

____

D = 8

A = 6

IIN = 3

DAIIN = 8 x (6 + 3) = 72

* * *

This arrangement presents certain problems, but it is not incoherent and it conforms to some of the inherent structures of these words. It is a place to begin - to be refined (or replaced) in subsequent iterations. 

R.B.