As the words « shor sha sha » in 4r are repeated several times on the page, I suppose other words can be the same. For example the words « cpholdy » in the 8th line and « cphaiin » in the 10th line, both following the equivalents of « shor sha sha », can in turn be the equivalents of « chpady » in the first line.
There are at least four words in the manuscript with the same root « chpa8/chpol8 » and hopefully the same meaning.
If my idea is correct, the ligature « cph » should read « ch+p ».
However, this contradicts my earlier attempts to read « cphol » as « species », which is closer, in my opinion, to our 3rd word « cphaiin ».
It’s therefore possible that a third version is necessary to fully understand the reading of ligatures.
The second word from the first line of page 4r is chpady, unique in the manuscript.
4r
This word may well be a Slavic, rather Czech word cpáti – to stuff, to pile, to throw.
A related word, unique in turn, is found on line 9 of 66v: chpadar.
66v
The word « cpatar » of 66v is followed by « sheey », as on page 4r the word « cpat9 » is followed by « sheol ol sheey’. I read the word « ol » as « a », and it can be an Old Slavic conjunction meaning and, also, but. So « shea a shu9 » would be « shea, also shu9 » and the two words would be synonyms or two variations of the same word.
The meaning of the word shija is the neck, the nape of the neck, and it remains to be seen how it relates to the rest of the sentence.
The first word on page 4r is kodalchy, which I read as motalk9. It is a unique word, resembling the word on page 41r kedaleey. The closest words I have found are motolica or motylica/motъlica, which are present in several Slavic languages.
The first meaning is disease of sheep, goats and humans, caused by the presence of helminths, manifested by dizziness and loss of balance, and / or cough. Then come the names of the plants, different from one language to another, the butterfly and the bee louse.
It is difficult to draw a conclusion at this stage. Even if I add the word Otchol (28) from the third line – овца (sheep), the word kodalchy/ motalk9 can be the name of the disease, like the name of a plant grazed by sheep.
After examining the three words on page 4v meaning « rustle » in Slavic languages, I continue with another one formed by the « words » in line 12: « Soiin (21) chaiin (45) chaiin (45) ». This word has the same « structure » as the three examined, can it be their equivalent and if so, in which language?
These words can be read « soun chaun chaun » or « som cham cham », as long as « in », « iin » and « iiin » are not determined definitively.
J. W. Redhouse in his « Turkish and English lexicon » mentions two words of Persian origin « chemchem » and « chemcheme » – foot, step and the sound of footsteps.
Redhouse J. W. (1890). A Turkish and English Lexicon: Shewing in English : The Significations of the Turkish Terms : New Edition. Constantinople. New Impression Beirut, 1987
Could these words be found in the description of our 4r plant, a plant that makes a noise (rustle) when stepped on?
Several years ago I offered to read a few words in the botany section, mainly in Slavic languages. My progress was quite slow and without much publicity. I would like to come back to these remarks to see if I managed, by my reading, to make some scratches on the « impenetrable » block of our manuscript and if I can turn some of them into a breach, even if it will take some time. The current results may differ from the first ones as I have since changed my reading of some glyphs.
I begin with page 4r, on which I had proposed to read the three groups of similar words from lines 2, 8 and 10 as shorshou –шершавый – rough. Today I read “ol” as “a” and I think we should put together the three short “words” each time: tshorshasha, shorshasha and shorshjasha, where ‘tsh’ is Cyrillic « щ ». The resulting words undoubtedly have the same meaning, perhaps in three different dialects: щуршаша, шуршаша, шуршяша of the verb shurshat’ (Preobrazhenskij)- to produce the rustle (of dry leaves, for example). So our plant, or one of its parts is dry and rustling to the touch?
The last two words of the first line read together give kor9vo9 for корявая and the first two words of the sixth line give korsh9vei9 for коржявыя. Both terms have the same meaning – dry, hard (Preobrazhenskij, Vasmer),
Admittedly, this doesn’t identify the plant, but it is still a start.
Apart from the word kolshd from page 80v which I read as ношть – night (or north) in Old Slavic, two other words in the manuscript may have the same meaning: « Kodshol », the first word on page 93r, and « kodshey » on line 18 of 1r.
I have a bit of doubt about the word for 1r, because the first letter can be « m », but I could always come back to that later.
I read « Kodshol » like « notsha » and « kodshey » like « notshe9 ». “Notsha” is close to Bulgarian нощта – night and “notshe9” is very close to Old Slavic ноштию – during the night, which can also be written as ноштъѭ, нощиѭ, нощию or нощію.
A similar word is « Koshey » from 1r and 111v.
The first letter of the word from 111v would, in my opinion, be more « m ».
If I’m on the right track, then the future will allow us to find out if it’s northern plants or night blooms.
The first word in line 9 on page 77v « darcheedal » contains several « letters » that are difficult to define. First the two « 8 », the first of which is straight and the second leaning to the right, then « ch » which can designate, in my opinion several letters or, rather, we must learn to distinguish the variants of writing, because they designate different letters. The final « al » can also read only « a », as some labels suggest.
If I keep the value of “d” for the initial “8”, the word should be “dark(g,x)ecta(l)”, I couldn’t find a matching word, but I found the word “targesta” for Tergeste, the Latin name for the city of Trieste.
Tergeste is quoted by Pliny the Elder and Strabo. The Targesta variant existed, at least, in French, as in Jacques Signot’s book (1555), for example.
Signot J. (1555). The Division of the world, containing the declaration of the prouinces and regions of Asia, Europe, and Aphricus … By Benoist Rigaud, 160 pages
What relationship can exist between Trieste and our text? If the text is related to Greek mythology, as Koen proposes or to geography, as Linda Snider* suggests, the word Tergeste can to be part of it. As Pliny said « … deceptos credo, quoniam Argo navis flumine in mare Hadriaticum descended non procul Tergeste… », this place can be cited in connection with the journey of the Argonauts.
*Linda has an article in word format for download at figshare Personally, I don’t agree with this way of forcing readers to download, instead of posting to a blog.
Still chasing a few recognizable words, I found three on page 77v. First on line 14, the word « qoraiin » EVA, unique in the manuscript, and which I read as doraun may be the Greek word δωρον – gift, present, offering to the deity, plural, talents, but also length measurement, palm. The combination « aii » would suggest « ω », it may be δωρων – gen. plural.
Despite appearances, there is no guarantee that this word is unique, since a large number of words in the manuscript contain a space, as on line 17 the words “qol chedy” may simply be “qolchedy” – δακετος. The preceding word, « dolchey », can be read as dake9, with its initial « 8 » standing straight for a Greek word also δακια – the wild bird or little wild beast. The two words will read « bite of a little wild beast » or « the little wild beast that bites ».
On lines 15 and 16 the word « salchedy » can be σακιτας = σηκιτης – kept in the fold, of a young lamb.
On the Pisces calendar / horoscope page 70v2 the three words on the outer band between 12 and 1h are “sheckh (1) opcheol (8) dair (106) dateey (1).
I read these words like “…skeene opheatair ta buos…”. Pronounced aloud, these words immediately make me think of “…scenes from the theater of life…” or “…actors and spectators of life…”, with the following Greek equivalents: • σκηνη – stage, οι επι σκηνης / οι περι σκηνην / οι απο σκηνης – actors; • θεατρον – theater (place), spectacle, οι θεαται – spectators; • βιος – life, του βιου – of life.
I have yet to find any works that deal with the theater of life before the 16th century. But is it about humans or stars, which would have an influence on human life?
Line 26 on page 82v has several words that can be read in Greek: pol olor chey qokain shedy qokain olchesy ol r ain dar- – Pa aorge9 donain shedy donain agez9…
• Πα = πη – how? • Αοργιας – α + οργιας, where α is a negative prefix, οργιας means which concerns orgies, inspired, possessed of the divine spirit (in the feminine), οργιαζω – celebrate the feasts of Bacchus, celebrate the mysteries or initiate into the mysteries. • Shedy – шедь – were going? • Αγιζω – to offer in sacrifice, to consecrate, αγιζων in Sophocles translated by sacrificing
If « donain » means « god », the whole will be « How the god without orgies (Mysteries) became the sacrificing (sacrificed ?) god … »
