To: voynich@rand.org Subject: The word "dam" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Reply-To: stolfi@dcc.unicamp.br FCC: /home/coruja/staff/stolfi/vm-folders/voynich --text follows this line-- Just as an exercise along the line proposed by Brett, let's look at the word "dam" and its lookalikes. When sorting the concordance I assumed that the letters { d g m j } were equivalent, and ditto for { a o y }. Moreover I ignored spaces and line breaks (but not paragraph breaks) within words. So the words sorted together with "dam" are described by the Unix pattern [.-/=][dgjm][.-/]?[aoy][.-/]?[dgjm][.-/=] Here "=" is a paragraph or label boundary, "." denotes a word break ("." or "," in EVA), "/" is a line boundary, and "-" is a break in the line due to an "external" obstacle, such as a drawing. (I failed to distinguish these last two cases in the concordance, sorry. I added that information manually in the extracts below. I also fixed a couple of page and line numbers.) Even ignoring the outermost delimiters, the pattern above describes 4*4*3*4*4 = 768 possible phrases. But in fact only 8 of them actually occur in the input text: { dag daj dam dod dom dy-d d.y.d dym } Here are their occurrences in context, with "." printed as " " for legibility: ---------------------------------------- dod ------------------------ bio f77r P.38 V lchpsheey tal cheol dam ar otey daiin-y cos f70r2 P.2 F cheey s chote dshy dam chchtal ykly-ykeeoy hea f1v P.4 F -dol chokeo dair dam sochey chokody= hea f23r P.2 F otchy lolchor daiin dam okchol dainm-dchar hea f23r P.6 F okol dchey daindal dam ytchol dals-okar hea f24r P.16 F -sham okeal dal dam dal-sshey otam hea f3r P.2 F daimm-ycheor chor dam qotcham cham-ochor hea f45v P.1 F fsholom shor ykchy dod opchaiin olald- hea f53v P.3 F chol dockhy cthol dam oty-qokol daiin hea f54r P.7 F chety-sol d*sh dam dam-toshey kodl hea f54v P.3 F cham chody ykol dam cheol aim-dar chor hea f6v P.5 U -dair sha chodam dam okor oty-dol dom= hea f90r2 P.5 L ckhor qoeeor okaiin dom olcheo sodaiin- hea f93r P.3 U dalody ytchchy dam chody dalol-s chodchy heb f33v P.2 F araiin es-kchdy dam dy-oky-otal dain heb f34r P.5 F -oltchedy otedy dam checthy-oteol chekey heb f43r P.5 F okedy dar chetchy dam otain ytam-kchedy heb f46r P.14 F qokar cheol okal dam chdam qokam-qokar heb f46v P.7 F theym-dchedy cheeky dam ched lchedy chedy pha f88v P2.12 L cpheody ykchey daj cheor chalykorain- pha f89r1 P2.12 L chom chtae**-taiin dam shoty* dal qokchy pha f89v1 P1.14 L qokol dal chol dam qoeey saiin ols pha f89v2 P2.7 L qokaol chey dair dam *** fo* opodaiin str f114r P1.8 F chedaiin chain-fche dam okchedam qokeedaiin unk f57v R4.1 U ,ar o,r * t l s d y d,ar teodar otadal unk f58r P.3 F hokal-ykechod dalal dam ytam choty otchy unk f65r L.1 V =otaim dam alam= unk f85r1 P.19 F okchdy otchedy dam lam= unk f86v5 P.24 F ocfhdy dar olpshy dam shey-pchor ypchor unk f86v6 P.22 F airoor qotar tackhy dam am-qokar olkedy ast f67r1 P.3 F aram shees dalaiin dam/cheo daiin aekeey ast f68v2 P.3 F shteody qoteeody dam/okeey sheoy keol bio f78r P.2 V tchedy otar olkedy dam/qckhedy cheky dal bio f78v P.3 V chey qotedy ol dam/ol chy lshdy lcheckhy bio f79r P.18 V otain otain otal ol dam/sol cheey chol bio f79v P.38 V okain sheckhdy dag/qokeedy ykeey sheey bio f82r P2.15 V aiin chey raity dam/dshedy qoteey chedy bio f82v P.31 V otal okeedy qokal dym/s aiin shey qokeedy bio f84r P.25 V qokeedy dal ol dam/s or olchdy lshedy bio f84r P.33 V shekedy okedy cthhy dam/dchedy qokedy ar bio f84v P.8 V keedy qoeedy okeedy dam/shedy qoeedy ol cos f67v2 C2.1 U =toal daig rakar dam/solair cfhey solal cos f70r2 P.4 F otal shshy tal dam/tal cheeo* dal hea f11v P.2 U chckhy shcthy daiin dam-ykchy dain dchy/ hea f14v P.8 U daiin-dol dair dam/dykshy ctholdm- hea f15r P.13 F cthar-ytol dor dom/qotchor chaiin hea f19v P.7 U qodchol qokchs dom-yshor oky chor hea f22r P.2 F cthor dain ckhy dom-qokol dykaiin okchy hea f22v P.8 U cthy qokol daiin dam-okshor shody chol hea f23v P.8 U g dam-chor olol dam-otshy dal dar oldar hea f23v P.8 U dain qokor okal g dam-chor olol dam-otshy hea f27r P.3 F chy-daiin chey dam-qokey chor char hea f32r P.8 F oldair-qoar daiin dam-dytchor dary-dchor hea f36v P.2 F ochor chety ckhor dom-dchytchy ytors- hea f3r P.6 F chor cthom otal dam-otchol qodaiin hea f42v P.6 F -sy-saiin cthar dam-chok sheo key keeeyd- hea f44r P.10 F choky choky chol dam-ytsho qockhy okchody= hea f47r P.10 F otchm tchol dain dam-dsho cphy daiin hea f51r P.14 F aiindal cphodal ral dam-qokol cheor ckhal hea f52r P.4 F qotchy oty dar oty dam-ychcthod-oky chor hea f52v P.2 F kor esechor chy dam-oorchor chochar hea f54r P.3 F ol s or y-ytchey dam-tor ockhol shokchy hea f54r P.7 F chety-sol d*sh dam dam-toshey kodl ckho hea f54r P.11 F ckhol chor chom dam-or sho chol dam- hea f54r P.11 F dam-or sho chol dam-yor shodal o aiin hea f6r P.3 F heoees ykeor ytaiin dam-dar cho s sheor hea f8r P1.4 F shesed chofchy dam-okchey do r cheeey heb f33v P.3 F -dyky-ckhdy oky dam-okardy kamdy-tokar heb f34r P.13 F qokar ar daiin dam-ykeo lor ochey heb f40r P.5 F qokchd ar ar or dam-tor or ar shokoram heb f41r P.4 F chees oteey otal dam-qotchy sal yteedy heb f41v P.2 F ykeeody choy keoy dam-qokeody okey qokeody heb f43r P.7 F dytydy pchdy kedy dam-ytchedy chedy cheody heb f46r P.9 F karal shky yty dar dam-tchey shy chkal heb f46v P.3 F qoty shedy chedy dam-ydaiin chckhy chdal heb f46v P.10 F otedy choctheod oty dam-ykar chedy= heb f55r P.7 F tchdy qokchdy olkar dam-dchykey char chek pha f102v1 P2.10 U heody qoeteey okeey dam-qoeeody ychey okeody pha f89r1 P1.3 L kechy daiin ctheody daj-yshor-oiiin daiin pha f89r1 P2.8 L daiin ykeedy daiin daj-dalsal dal cheiiirdy str f104r P.22 F cheor chckhey taiin dam-ol sheo ckhey chol str f104v P.1 F cheodaiin cheekaiin dam-ychedaiin qoteed str f105r P2.19 F airody al tchdar dam-ycheo lkedy qoeey str f105r P2.23 F pcheey dal daiin dam-deeedy cheodkedy str f108v P.5 T okeedy qokar qokal dam-oeeedain chey lokeey str f114v P.16 F qokaiin choky chol dam-sheoal chos oaiir str f115r P.14 F chtar as kaiin dam-ycheo lkeo daiin unk f49v P.4 U -okeodsho chotshol dam-shol shodaiin qotchar- unk f85r1 P.3 F cheol saiin ot dam-odee daiin qokechy unk f85r1 P.18 F tshey qokshey schdy dam-okchy okchdy otchedy unk f86v5 P.34 F otol oty oltal oky dam-dchol chedy qotaiin unk f86v6 P.18 F lkar otal qotar dam-pol sheopchey pchcfhy ast f68v2 Y.3 V =ysaikchy dam= cos f86r4 Z3.2 V =ot dam= hea f18v P.10 U dshy dair ytol dom= hea f44r P.4 F ykchey ykchy chody dam= hea f6v P.5 U dam okor oty-dol dom= heb f57r P.5 F -qokcho daiin cheeo dam= heb f94r P.8 F osaiin chy kaidy dam= pha f99r X.6 V =dam= str f104r P.9 F qokecho qokol cheeo dam= str f111r P.35 T -ychedl ar aiin ain dam= str f112r P.10 T al chedy qodain dam= hea f96r P.12 U cheol cheodain ol-dy-d-chs-ar cheody-oteeo Note that only { dam dom daj } occur in significant numbers: respectively 89, 6, and 4 times. A case can be made that all these variants are actually the same word. However, since the "dam" variant dominates, we don't need to worry yet about this question; any definite pattern that involves "dam" alone should be visible in the combined data, too. Note that these words never occur in "line-initial" position. The only two exceptions are clearly transcription bugs: the "-"s in "-dy-d-" (page f96r) are figure breaks, not line boundaries, and the "=dam=" label (page f99r) should have been joined with the nearby one in a single label "=sory.dam=". Note that this statistics is quite significant: the average line has about a dozen words; so in 104 random occurrences we would expect quite a few to be in line-initial position. Looking at the other boundary, we see that 74 of the 104 occurrences are in "line-final" position, and 11 of these are paragraph-final. Again this is significantly more than what we would expect by chance. I.e. these words have a clear preference for end-of-line. One possible explanation for these startistics is that the letters { m g j } are actually abbreviation or "truncation" signs, which are used mainly to avoid "bad" line breaks that would leave only one or two words of the current sentence on the next line. If this explanation were correct, then these letters should occur mostly near the right margin or other "hard" obstacles.