Phil,

This comes from someone without any natural talent for languages, near-total ignorance of cipher-things, and only the faintest residue of training in  linguistics ~  so cum grano.

Earliest influence in the imagery c.5thC BC, latest apart from written text I put about the 3rdC, before recension in the 12th-13th.  So this will range, just a bt.

If there's ever a sweepstakes, put me down for early Hellenistic texts, written in glossary style, taking characters (glyphs) from as many as  seven languages to form a set by which all are represented. Basically a Yemeni-influenced Greek script, I'd guess.
If enciphered, probably by using some wheel system.. a la Alberti, but not his.

Seven languages turn up as a common number spoken by traders, so I'm opting for seven different languages that form the glossary, phonetically rendered using the one set of glyphs.

This script was made by a group who so very strongly avoided any 'x' shape that they use it neither in their script, nor in imagery, nor does the manuscript use the Roman 'x' for ten.

 I read this as tabu to do with the southern 'hell' and perhaps Argo ratis constellation.  Not Byzantine Greeks - they also place the 'x' for the southern limit of the world, but draw it there and keep the Chai in their scrpt.

 A related tabu in the manuscript is avoidance of interlace - *very* rare tabu for any Mediterranean peoples.  Cross-shapes and knots being avoided is typical of some  mariners and some peoples across North Africa (see Westermarck, for example). And, I almost forgot, it is characteristic of dynastic Egypt, especially before Alexander. So a mariner-people is possible.

 One of the languages  among the 'glossary's seven may well be New Persian, but I strongly suspect an old Yemeni dialect there somewhere, unless the text was newly rendered in the fifteenth century.  In that case, I'm tempted to include instead Genoese and perhaps even English (Old- or Middle).

Judging by those stylistics which highlight distinctions between the various sections,  some of the basic Hellenistic matter derived from a community in Egypt; more from northern Syria and the elbow between Asia Minor and the Syrian coast.  Interaction between the two regions was constant, from the ancient to the modern era, so 'national' limits don't really apply, although regional affect is still evident in the imagery.

A distinctive 5-element system is found one folio. It's not the European system of elements  and points (I think) to Manichaean influence of a type   pervasive through the southern Mediterraean to about the 3rd or 4th C AD.  It then travels as far as China, just to make things trickier.

There are some areas where all these influences might be found in close proximity in the earlier centuries AD -  Lycopolis in Egypt is one. Pehaps Canopus, or Alexandria two more.

I confess that I'm putting all this here mainly for the fun of it; after five years I've no illusion that I'll be heard.

Unlike some Voynicheros excited by owning a theory they've developed for their own, I have only 'my conclusions' and presently fairly uninterested even in them. 

Voynich'd out.
 

Cheers.

Could be. I'm mostly thinking North Africa and related regions (middle east). There is, I think, around 3000 African languages currently, many with few native speakers. Any sort of tribe that would have some amount of influence from both the Afroasiatic and Semetic groups could be candidates.

Again, I think it's a dead language. Hence my interest in the comparison to proper nouns from other languages in the thread.

STEP I (this is the  frustrating pig pen "gibberish" we have so far, courtesy of Nick Pelling's site)

BLTACEIARWUNISNFNNELLHSYWYDUO
INIEYARQATNNTEDMINUNEHOMSYRRYUO
TOEHO’TSHGDOTNEHMOSALDOEADYA

STEP II (putting the letters in a fixed width font so the are easier to deal with)

B L T A C E I A R W U N I S N F N N E L L H S Y W Y D U O
I N I E Y A R Q A T N N T E D M I N U N E H O M S Y R R Y U O
T O E H O ' S S H G D O T N E H M O S A L D O E A D Y A

STEP III (assuming they may be read vertically, top to bottom then bottom to top, left to right)


B     L T     A C    E I     A R     W U      N I     S N     F N     N E     L L
 I   N   I   E   Y  A   R   Q   A   T   N   N    T   E   D   M   I   N   U   N   E
  T O     E H     O'     S S     H G     D O      T N     E H     M O     S A     L


     H S     Y W     Y D     U
    H   O   M   S   Y   R   R   Y U O
...D     O E     A D     Y A


STEP IV(rewriting the letters in the new arrangement)


B I T O N L T I E H E A C Y O' A E R I S S Q A R A H G T W U N D O N N I T T N E S N D E H M F N I M O N N E U S A N L L E L D H H S O O E M Y W S A D Y Y D R Y A R U O H U O

STEP V(what I have so far)

"B (I)*-TON L TIE HE AC (TH)**O (AERIS)*** SQ (ARA)**** .  . . ."

*"I" may be the Roman Numeral "One", in which case the pronunciation of the first part would be "B wanton L tie"
**"Y" = "TH" in Old English
***"ERIS" is the ancient Greek goddess of "discord", but "AERIS" is from the Norse for something else, as she was an Earth Goddess, I think. . .
****"ARA" is the Greek constellation of the "altar" where alliances were forged

Tentative translation so far:

"By wanton love tie he act though Aeris square altar . . ."

(Could this be a romance/marriage proposal that was dodged?)

Phil
"localized non-Semetic Afroasiatic language which exhibits some Semetic tendencies".

Would a minor dialect of Judeo-Persian do?

- just asking. Don't have a candidate.

Diane