The Cyclic Template

As I have presented it throughout these pages, there are two paradigmatic words upon which the Voynich text has been constructed. 

This, however, is a static conception of it: in reality, these "words" are CYCLES and we only understand them properly if we acknowledge them as underlying structures running throughout the text.

Moreover, there are more than two cycles: the two paradigms I identify, QOKEEDY and CHOLDAIIN are at the top level of the text. 

Beneath them is what I have called the Primitive Paradigm. There is also what I have called the Counter Cycle. 

Using a volvelle model, we might think of these as wheels within wheels - with one of the wheels counter to the others. 

The full model looks something like this:

I have tried many iterations of this template, and at this stage - for all its many deficiencies - this model gives the best account of the text, both in terms of words, and also in terms of lines. 

Notice that in this version there are two cycles of CHOLDAIIN running off-set to each other. This is an expression of the essential duality of CHOLDAIIN. 

If we put the sub-cycles aside, our basic top-level template becomes:

My contention is that there is no word in the text that cannot be shown to conform to this model.

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An important addition to this is that Voynich words must be understood from how they operate within their context. My contention is that there is no word in the text that cannot be shown to conform to this model - with one proviso, namely we must see the word in context.

We will make mistakes if we isolate words and simply place them against this template. We must be guided by other words.

The statistics for words and glyphs can be misleading without context too.

In many cases we could attribute a glyph to several options in the template. Where this is the case, other words guide us. 

The best example is the word [chedy]. It could be formed from the template in several ways. From the context of Voynich lines, however, we can establish the proper placement - that which is consistent with similar words and glyph configurations. We see that the [che] in this case is a form of [eee] rather than some other possibility. 

The other thing that can be misleading is the transcription. (All transcriptions mislead.) It is important to refer to the Voynich script. Often decisions are confirmed by the shape of the glyph and its proper place will be clear in the Voiynich script but obscured in transcriptions. 

* * *

Here is a line of text potted onto this template:

f108v.P.1 

pchedal.qokeedar.otedy.qokeedy.lky.ltal.aiin.oteo.fcheey.otedar.am.ol-

I will discuss this and other examples in forthcoming posts. At very least, this is a useful analysis tool. It follows from the realization that templates will not work unless they are understood to be CYCLIC. 

R.B.