A language learners’ forum

There's a new Voynich manuscript hypothesis. According to University of Bristol researcher Gerard Cheshire, the language of the manuscript is a mix of Vulgar Latin and other Mediterranean languages. For more information see his paper.

According to Ars Technica: No, someone hasn’t cracked the code of the mysterious Voynich manuscript

A very critical thread on Voynich Ninja about this proposed solution. And another two-years-old one. Apparently, this isn't the first Gerard Cheshire's attempt at cracking this century-old mystery.

A guy in another forum I'm in wrote a long takedown/rant about how terrible this is...

When the author says "Proto-Romance" he apparently means a haphazard hodgepodge of Romance and Latin words, sometimes made up. That's why this "Proto-Romance" is from the 1400s, several centuries after the medieval Romance languages are first attested. He deciphers the phrase "o'quo nana" and declares it to be o' ("Italian" for 'of', but isn't this English-y?), quo (Latin for 'where') and nana (Italian for 'small', when it's actually 'female dwarf'). Therefore, the author says, it means 'of where small'. Oh yeah, his translations are of individual small phrases and make no sense anyway.

The fact that this was published in an allegedly peer-reviewed journal, Romance Studies, published by Taylor & Francis (I just verified it was indeed published there), is a matter of utter, utter shame.

Ser wrote:"o'quo nana"

That sounds like something from a party song. I can picture crowds of drunken people singing it shamelessly across Europe.

Cainntear wrote:

Ser wrote:"o'quo nana"

That sounds like something from a party song. I can picture crowds of drunken people singing it shamelessly across Europe.

Sounds like a potential Eurovision hit to me ... just needs a Finnish rock group to pick it up to guarantee success

Ser wrote:The fact that this was published in an allegedly peer-reviewed journal, Romance Studies, published by Taylor & Francis (I just verified it was indeed published there), is a matter of utter, utter shame.

Shame indeed ....

In the latest episode of the Lexicon Valley podcast, John McWhorter talked about Gerard Cheshire's hypothesis. (He said that Cheshire's translations reminded him of Pedro Carolino's infamous book English As She Is Spoke.)