The Voynich Manuscript

It’s 240 pages of elegant script in an unknown alphabet. Illustrations of plants that don’t exist. Astronomical diagrams that don’t match our sky. Nude women bathing in green liquid. And despite over a century of study by the world’s best codebreakers—including those who cracked Nazi Enigma codes—no one can read it. The Voynich Manuscript remains the world’s most mysterious book.

The Manuscript

Physical Description

• 240 vellum pages (some folding out)
• Approximately 170,000 characters
• Written in an unknown script (Voynichese)
• Illustrated throughout
• Carbon-dated to early 15th century (1404-1438)
• Currently held at Yale University’s Beinecke Library

The Sections

The manuscript appears divided into sections:

Botanical: Plants that don’t match any known species, with elaborate root systems and flowers.

Astronomical: Circular diagrams showing stars, sun, moon, and zodiac symbols.

Biological: Nude women (nymphs?) in tubes and pools of liquid, connected by pipes.

Pharmaceutical: Jars and containers with plant parts, possibly recipes.

Recipes: Dense text with no illustrations, organized in short paragraphs.

The History

Known Provenance

• 1639: First documented in a letter from Prague
• 1666: Appears in Roman Jesuit archives
• 1912: Purchased by Wilfrid Voynich (hence the name)
• 1969: Donated to Yale University
• Present: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

The Mystery

No one knows:

• Who wrote it
• What language it’s in
• What it means
• Why it was created

Decryption Attempts

Professional Cryptanalysts

William Friedman: America’s greatest codebreaker, who cracked Japanese diplomatic codes, worked on the Voynich for decades without success.

The NSA: Reportedly analyzed the manuscript during the Cold War. No solution published.

Modern AI: Machine learning has been applied repeatedly. No breakthrough.

The Problems

The text shows:

• Statistical properties of real language
• Consistent internal structure
• Repetitive patterns unusual for natural language
• No obvious cipher structure
• Entropy patterns that defy analysis

Claimed Solutions

Many researchers have claimed to decode it:

• Hebrew with missing vowels
• An early Romance language
• A Turkish dialect
• An Asian language
• A constructed language

None have been verified or reproducible.

Theories

A Real Language

Hypothesis: Written in a lost or obscure language using a unique alphabet.

Problem: No consistent linguistic structure has been identified.

A Cipher

Hypothesis: A coded version of Latin, Italian, or another known language.

Problem: No cipher method has yielded readable text.

A Hoax

Hypothesis: Meaningless text created to deceive a buyer.

Problem: The text shows language-like properties too complex for random generation with medieval tools.

Glossolalia

Hypothesis: Written in a trance state without conscious meaning.

Problem: The text is too structured for random output.

Alien Communication

Hypothesis: Extraterrestrial origin.

Problem: No evidence; extraordinary claim requiring extraordinary proof.

The Plants

Perhaps the strangest element: the botanical illustrations show plants that don’t exist. Some appear to be composites of different species. Others have impossible anatomies. Are they:

• Medicinal plants drawn from memory?
• Invented plants for a fantasy world?
• Symbolic rather than literal?
• Evidence the author had no botanical knowledge?

The plants may be the key to understanding the manuscript—or evidence that it means nothing at all.

The Significance

The Voynich Manuscript matters because:

• It defied the world’s best codebreakers
• It may contain lost knowledge
• It challenges our understanding of medieval manuscripts
• It represents an unsolved puzzle of unique complexity
• If real, it could revolutionize linguistics

The Question

Is the Voynich Manuscript:

• A medieval encyclopedia in a lost language?
• An elaborate hoax by a bored monk?
• An encoded message we’ll never crack?
• Meaningless glossolalia?

After 600 years, we still can’t read a single word.

---

It sits in a climate-controlled vault at Yale: 240 pages of beautiful script no one can read, illustrating plants that don’t exist. The Voynich Manuscript has defeated every code-breaker who tried, from amateurs to the NSA. Whatever its author wanted to say, they succeeded in one thing absolutely: keeping the secret forever.