Here's an example of the same principle ~ this one might appeal to "Phil the Rodent".
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/astrolabe/exhibition/sun_moon.htm

Hi Aaron,

Don Hoffmann assumes Voynichese is a technical notation.

 I fell over the idea after noticing Julian Bunn's grids look like a weaving pattern.

I tried other technical instructions which have the option of expression by condensed notation or with a  graph/tabular grid.   

These included
- certian types of medical prescriptions;
- systems for generating scents from a limited list of ingredients;
- weaving and (as you see)
- knitting.

What I'd be glad to know is whether the principle seems to others to suit the statistical properties of Voynichese as well or  better than a polyglot text would.

Either of those is possible; no objection from the internal evidence.

If the idea's important or not, I can't say, but if so Don Hoffmann is to be credited. He did the real hard work first (and most).

My interest  is in nothing much but the manuscript.   

I'm too old for ambition, too unglam to nod wisely on tv, and too easily disgusted by the  intellectually dishonest.

But back to the conundrum..   do  'words' of such a kind suit Voynichese' statistical properties?

Cheers
(edited Sept 21st. 2013)

Hi,

Lately it has been suggested (by me) and proposed (by Don Hoffmann) that Voynichese is neither prose nor poetry, but a technical notation composed of little or nothing but acronyms and numbers.

Don's model is pharmaceutical recipes; mine was 'recipes' in various types of textile production, but the same principle applies for scientific notations - e.g. in geography, surveying or maths.
Here's an example - non-std knit notation though.


Since it's not prose interrupted by Tironian notation,  I hesitate to call it an abbreviated text, but know no other term.

I realise that texts of that  kind would probably defy translation.  But I'd like to know how testing them as  Voynichese has been tested  (redundancy, entropy, n-grams) might change our view of the Voynichese statistics.

I suppose expectations about e.g. proportion of numerical to alphabetic signs might alter, and perhaps  expected  frequency of  consonants against vowels?

If I'm to understand any responses, it's probably a good idea to let you know that I learned the definition of  "n-grams"  a couple of hours ago.
 

Diane

Here 'tis (From a lucky line of discovery I tried several nights ago):

Know the start letters from the keywords(I brute-forced them), which change with every comma.

Write down the individual keyword letter at the beginning of each number group -- like a bingo call. 

Each number is actually a letter exactly "x" units away,added or subtracted, on an alphabet range (included below for covienience).

Keyword letters + number letters are both needed, in order, for plaintext.

Also each keyword changes with every row.  Therefore you need the correctly spaced lines (not smushed together to save space) from the Project Gutenburg Internet Archive Pamplet, or you are sunk.

I am posting because while I have a definate method that works for both Ciphers 1 and 3, I do not have all the keywords.  Beale 1 seems to be a "Masquerade"-type hunt. Dependant on date and time.  Beale 3 is a group of wills, each line listing a seperate family, with the keyword being their family member.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z-A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

BEALE CIPHER 1 ROW 1 KEYWORD PHRASE  "MAY ONE":

Row 1 Raw Numbers:

71, 194, 385, 1701,  89, 76, 11, 83, 1629, 48, 94, 63, 132, 16, 111, 95, 84,   341,   

Matched with phrase:

M-71, A-194, Y-385, O-1701, N-89, E-76, M-11, A-83, Y-1629, O-48, N-94,   E-63,   M-132, A-16, Y-111, O-95, N-84, E-341,   

Raw Plaintext:

Mtn, Az ke,Y be t, On io m,N vu,E x k,M ln, Aid, Y x ea q, O k w,Nw r, Ez b, Ml pk, Az u Y zx z, O ft, N v r,E b id


BEALE CIPHER 3 ROW 1 Keyword "BEALE":

B317, E8, A92, L73, E112, B89, E67, A318, L28, E96,   B107,   E41,   A631,   L78,   E146,   B397,   E118,   A98,

Beau, Elary, Leo, Edd C, Bk, Selma, Cas, Lit, Evy, Babie Ada Uxb, L St., Edil, Beki, Eddy, Ari
      


BEALE CIPHER 3 ROW 2 Keyword "JAKOB":

J114, A246, K348, O116, B74, J88, A12, K65, O32,   B14,   J81,   A19, K76,   O121, B216, J85, A33, K66, O15,    
J, kim, Acef, K hose, Oppi, Bif Jr, rAby, KepOlm Jr, kAb, j KreOn, m nB dav J, reAdd, Kee, Ont



BEALE CIPHER 3 ROW 3 Keyword "BILLY":

B108, I68, L77, L43, Y24, B122, I96, L117,   L36,   Y211, B301,   I15,   L44,   L11,   Y46,   B89,   I18,   L136,   L68,      
Babj, Io, aLee, Lio, Yau B, add, IroL, mke, Li f, Yazz, Beb cImeL, mkL, Yue, ButI, hal, mor, Lrt

That's a good question. Who knows of a good source for scans/photos of Elgar's original handwritten pieces of music?