The Voynich Manuscript: An Index to the Nomenclature of All Plants with an Analysis of Their Etymological Origin and Primary Sources in Ancient Greek Botanical Manuscripts (original) (raw)
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This paper attempts to create an understanding as to what content some pages of the Voynich manuscript may contain through the identity and uses of two or more plant names on the same page. The first word of each page on the botanical section of the Voynich manuscript, a codex that has not been deciphered yet, usually occurs only once in the entire manuscript, leading to the hypothesis that the first word on the page may be referring to the name of the plant illustrated on the page. Some of these plants are, however, mentioned more than once on different pages and even occur in different sections than the botanical section. Through the speculation of the identity of the plants that repeat and their properties, origins, or uses, the author attempts to predict the content that is discussed in the pages where the repetition occurs.
2023
Ethnopharmacological relevance In recent decades, the study of historical texts has attracted research interest, particularly in ethnopharmacology. All studies of the materia medica cited in ancient and medieval texts share a concern, however, as to the reliability of modern identifications of these substances. Previous studies of European or Mediterranean texts relied mostly on authoritative dictionaries or glossaries providing botanical identities for the historical plant names in question. Several identities they suggest, however, are questionable and real possibility of error exists. Aim of the study This study aims to develop and document a novel and interdisciplinary methodology providing more objective assessment of the identity of the plants (and minerals) described in these resources. Materials and methods We developed an iterative experimental approach, using the 13th century Byzantine recipe text John the Physician's Therapeutics in its Commentary version (JC) as a case study. The methodology has six stages and relies on comparative analyses including statistical evaluation of botanical descriptions and information about medicinal uses drawn from both historical and modern sources. Stages 1–4 create the dataset, stage 5 derives the primary outcomes to be reviewed by experts in stage 6. Results Using Disocorides’ De Materia Medica (DMM) (1st century CE) as the culturally related reference text for the botanical descriptions of the plants cited in JC, allowed us to link the 194 plants used medicinally in JC with 252 plants cited in DMM. Our test sample for subsequent analyses consisted of the 50 JC plant names (corresponding to 61 DMM plants) for which DMM holds rich morphological information, and the 130 candidate species which have been suggested in the literature as potential botanical identities of those 50 JC plant names. Statistical evaluation of the comparative analyses revealed that in the majority of the cases, our method detected the candidate species having a higher likelihood of being the correct attribution from among the pool of suggested candidates. Final assessment and revision provided a list of the challenges associated with applying our methodology more widely and recommendations on how to address these issues. Conclusions We offer this multidisciplinary approach to more evidence-based assessment of the identity of plants in historical texts providing a measure of confidence for each suggested identity. Despite the experimental nature of our methodology and its limitations, its application allowed us to draw conclusions about the validity of suggested candidate plants as well as to distinguish between alternative candidates of the same historical plant name. Fully documenting the methodology facilitates its application to historical texts of any kind of cultural or linguistic background.
Aramaic Studies, 2017
This article explores some of the translational choices made by Sergius of Reš ʿAynā in translating the Greek plant names found in Books VI–VIII of Galen’s treatise On simple drugs into Syriac, and especially as found in the “tables of contents”—or pínakes—which preface these books. These latter took the form of alphabetically ordered lists of Greek phytonyms transliterated into Syriac characters, occasionally followed by a translational gloss in Syriac. After a brief introduction, we discuss the form, function and content of these pínakes, outline a typology, and suggest explanations for selected problematic features.
Selçuk Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2021
Vocabulary studies are of significant importance for linguistic and cultural research because the worldview of a society is hidden in the verbal repertoire of its language. In studies on medical texts of the Old Anatolian Turkish period, it has been determined that there are errors and inconsistencies in the Latin equivalents of the plant names. The aim of this article is to reveal the true Latin equivalents of the plant names whose Latin equivalents are given incorrectly. To achieve this aim, we determined the sample selected by evaluating the forms in the indexes and dictionaries of fourteen Old Anatolian Turkish medical manuscript studies. Through this sample, we have attempted both to examine the reasons for the related discrepancies, as well as put forth solutions on how to eliminate them were evaluated. Such inconsistencies not only mislead scholars but also present them numerous challenges when it comes to further research. One of the aims of the study is to draw attention to such difficulties and discuss the measures that can be taken on the relevant issue.
Herbaria as manuscripts: Philology, ethnobotany, and the textual-visual mesh of early modern botany
History of Science, 2023
While interest in early modern herbaria has so far mainly concentrated on the dried plants stored in them, this paper addresses another of their qualities – their role as manuscripts. In the 1670s, the German botanist Paul Hermann (1646–95) spent several years in Ceylon (today Sri Lanka) as a medical officer in the service of the Dutch East India Company. During his stay he put together four herbaria, two of which contain a wealth of handwritten notes by himself and several later owners. First, it will be shown that these notes provide information on the linguistic skills and interests of those who collected plants in an overseas trading settlement. Hermann’s botanical practice demanded and, at the same time, generated knowledge of Sinhalese (an Indo-Aryan language that is spoken by the largest ethnic group on the island) and its script. In his herbarium, observations on the semantics, morphology, and pronunciation of Sinhalese are inextricably intertwined with those of botanical nature. Second, on the basis of these voluminous notes, the character of early modern herbaria as manuscripts will be highlighted. And third, Hermann’s herbaria will be integrated into an investigation of scribal practices and publication strategies of eighteenth-century botany. Along with field notes, letters, manuscripts, illustrations, and printed books, herbaria were knots in the textual–visual mesh of early modern botany.
Magic and Medicine in Mesopotamia: Studies in Honor of Markham J. Geller. Edited by S. V. Panayotov and L. Vacin. Ancient Magic and Divination 14 (2018), pp. 446–461.
The present article explores the simple but important idea that a very precise method for describing herbal remedies was in place prior to Theophrastus and that this system was not uniquely Greek, even though the two most prominent extant herbals were written by Greek authors. Rather, it shows how the structure adopted by Theophrastus (and probably by his predecessors) for plant descriptions was already in place in Mesopotamia at least five centuries earlier.
READING OF DECIPHERED VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT: ALL BOTANICAL TEXTS 2021 08 17-19 International Conference on Research in Science. Alisa Gladyseva Presentation of the second part of the book DECIPHERING THE WHOLE TEXT OF THE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT , 2021
The Voynich manuscript could not be read for more than 500 years, and after deciphering it thanks to the Lavanda keyword, it became possible to read the entire text that was written in medieval Galician. In this presentation, the complete texts of the pages will be read, generally of botanical origin. Some other strategies that helped make the decryption algorithm successful will be revealed during the conference.
A Database of Medieval Plantnames
This paper is about a database, built in Graz, Austria, of plant names from mediëval manuscripts concerning food and health. It is meant for researchers from as many as possible disciplines in the humanities as well as pharmaceuts and medicins. The paper also contains explanation of the basic classical system of the humours and temparaments.
The Voynich Manuscript Medicinal Herbology Translation and Identification updated 8/15/19
2018
The Voynich Manuscript was written in the 15th century, and so far to date, no other example, in this form of writing exists in the world. My theory is that it is written in the language of the Khazars, who were believed to be Turkic Jews, living in Greece, and whose written language disappeared around the 13th – 14th centuries. Since it is said that there were no mistakes in the manuscripts writing, I hypothesize that it was possibly hand copied from a previously older version. Since translating the first page, it was revealed that the person writing was exiled in Greece... now we can identify the plants and what is revealed in medieval medical usage of them. Many of these plants have very disturbing content, so please read at your discretion.