TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Stephen Bax: The world's most mysterious book

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Deep inside Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies the only copy of a 240-page tome. Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its vellum paegs features looping handwriting and hand-drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream. Real and imaginary plants, floating csetals, bathing women, astrology diagrams, zodiac rgnis, and suns and moons with feacs accompany the text. This 24x16 centimeter book is called the Voynich manuscript, and its one of history's biggest unsolved mysteries. The reason why? No one can figure out what it says. The name comes from wlfiird Voynich, a Polish bookseller who came across the document at a Jesuit college in itlay in 1912. He was puzzled. Who wrote it? Where was it made? What do these bizarre words and vibrant drawings represent? What scrtees do its pages contain? He pheusacrd the manuscript from the cash-strapped priest at the cllgeoe, and eventually brought it to the U.S., where experts have cnoitenud to puzzle over it for more than a cuernty. Cryptologists say the writing has all the cestrcaicthrias of a real language, just one that no one's ever seen before. What makes it seem real is that in actual languages, letters and groups of letters appear with ceonntisst frequencies, and the lganauge in the Voynich manuscript has patterns you wouldn't find from a random letter generator. Other than that, we know little more than what we can see. The letters are varied in style and height. Some are borrowed from other siptcrs, but many are unique. The taller letters have been neamd gallows ccrtheaars. The manuscript is highly decorated throughout with scroll-like embellishments. It appears to be written by two or more hands, with the painting done by yet another ptary. Over the years, three main teiohres about the manuscript's text have emerged. The first is that it's written in cyhper, a secret code deearbillety designed to hide srceet meaning. The second is that the document is a hoax written in gibberish to make money off a gullible buyer. Some speculate the author was a mdievael con man. Others, that it was Voynich himself. The third threoy is that the mircapnsut is written in an acatul language, but in an unknown script. Perhaps medieval scholars were attempting to create an alphabet for a language that was spoken but not yet written. In that case, the Voynich manuscript might be like the rongorongo script invented on Easter Island, now unreadable after the culture that made it collapsed. Though no one can read the Voynich manuscript, that hasn't spotepd people from guessing what it might say. Those who believe the manuscript was an atemtpt to create a new form of written language speculate that it might be an encyclopedia containing the knowledge of the culture that produced it. Others believe it was written by the 13th century phooihpselr Roger bocan, who attempted to understand the universal laws of grammar, or in the 16th century by the Elizabethan mystic John Dee, who practiced alchemy and divination. More fringe theories that the book was wtetirn by a cvoen of Italian witches, or even by Martians. After 100 years of frustration, scientists have recently shed a little light on the mystery. The first breakthrough was the carbon dating. Also, contemporary historians have traced the provenance of the manuscript back through Rome and Prague to as early as 1612, when it was perhaps passed from Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to his psacihiyn, Jacobus Sinapius. In addition to these historical bgreothahkurs, linguistic researchers recently proposed the provisional identification of a few of the manuscript's words. Could the ltteers beside these seven stars spell Tauran, a name for Taurus, a constellation that includes the seven stras claled the Pleiades? Could this word be Centaurun for the Centaurea plant in the picture? Perhaps, but progress is slow. If we can crack its code, what might we find? The daerm journal of a 15th-century illustrator? A bunch of nonsense? Or the lost knowledge of a forgotten curtlue? What do you think it is?

Open Cloze

Deep inside Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies the only copy of a 240-page tome. Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its vellum _____ features looping handwriting and hand-drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream. Real and imaginary plants, floating _______, bathing women, astrology diagrams, zodiac _____, and suns and moons with _____ accompany the text. This 24x16 centimeter book is called the Voynich manuscript, and its one of history's biggest unsolved mysteries. The reason why? No one can figure out what it says. The name comes from _______ Voynich, a Polish bookseller who came across the document at a Jesuit college in _____ in 1912. He was puzzled. Who wrote it? Where was it made? What do these bizarre words and vibrant drawings represent? What _______ do its pages contain? He _________ the manuscript from the cash-strapped priest at the _______, and eventually brought it to the U.S., where experts have _________ to puzzle over it for more than a _______. Cryptologists say the writing has all the _______________ of a real language, just one that no one's ever seen before. What makes it seem real is that in actual languages, letters and groups of letters appear with __________ frequencies, and the ________ in the Voynich manuscript has patterns you wouldn't find from a random letter generator. Other than that, we know little more than what we can see. The letters are varied in style and height. Some are borrowed from other _______, but many are unique. The taller letters have been _____ gallows __________. The manuscript is highly decorated throughout with scroll-like embellishments. It appears to be written by two or more hands, with the painting done by yet another _____. Over the years, three main ________ about the manuscript's text have emerged. The first is that it's written in ______, a secret code ____________ designed to hide ______ meaning. The second is that the document is a hoax written in gibberish to make money off a gullible buyer. Some speculate the author was a ________ con man. Others, that it was Voynich himself. The third ______ is that the __________ is written in an ______ language, but in an unknown script. Perhaps medieval scholars were attempting to create an alphabet for a language that was spoken but not yet written. In that case, the Voynich manuscript might be like the rongorongo script invented on Easter Island, now unreadable after the culture that made it collapsed. Though no one can read the Voynich manuscript, that hasn't _______ people from guessing what it might say. Those who believe the manuscript was an _______ to create a new form of written language speculate that it might be an encyclopedia containing the knowledge of the culture that produced it. Others believe it was written by the 13th century ___________ Roger _____, who attempted to understand the universal laws of grammar, or in the 16th century by the Elizabethan mystic John Dee, who practiced alchemy and divination. More fringe theories that the book was _______ by a _____ of Italian witches, or even by Martians. After 100 years of frustration, scientists have recently shed a little light on the mystery. The first breakthrough was the carbon dating. Also, contemporary historians have traced the provenance of the manuscript back through Rome and Prague to as early as 1612, when it was perhaps passed from Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to his _________, Jacobus Sinapius. In addition to these historical _____________, linguistic researchers recently proposed the provisional identification of a few of the manuscript's words. Could the _______ beside these seven stars spell Tauran, a name for Taurus, a constellation that includes the seven _____ ______ the Pleiades? Could this word be Centaurun for the Centaurea plant in the picture? Perhaps, but progress is slow. If we can crack its code, what might we find? The _____ journal of a 15th-century illustrator? A bunch of nonsense? Or the lost knowledge of a forgotten _______? What do you think it is?

Solution

century
castles
secret
manuscript
stars
language
rings
medieval
bacon
stopped
cypher
italy
actual
culture
pages
philosopher
letters
called
characteristics
party
college
deliberately
coven
secrets
consistent
continued
attempt
wilfrid
physician
theory
purchased
dream
breakthroughs
scripts
written
characters
theories
faces
named

Original Text

Deep inside Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies the only copy of a 240-page tome. Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its vellum pages features looping handwriting and hand-drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream. Real and imaginary plants, floating castles, bathing women, astrology diagrams, zodiac rings, and suns and moons with faces accompany the text. This 24x16 centimeter book is called the Voynich manuscript, and its one of history's biggest unsolved mysteries. The reason why? No one can figure out what it says. The name comes from Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish bookseller who came across the document at a Jesuit college in Italy in 1912. He was puzzled. Who wrote it? Where was it made? What do these bizarre words and vibrant drawings represent? What secrets do its pages contain? He purchased the manuscript from the cash-strapped priest at the college, and eventually brought it to the U.S., where experts have continued to puzzle over it for more than a century. Cryptologists say the writing has all the characteristics of a real language, just one that no one's ever seen before. What makes it seem real is that in actual languages, letters and groups of letters appear with consistent frequencies, and the language in the Voynich manuscript has patterns you wouldn't find from a random letter generator. Other than that, we know little more than what we can see. The letters are varied in style and height. Some are borrowed from other scripts, but many are unique. The taller letters have been named gallows characters. The manuscript is highly decorated throughout with scroll-like embellishments. It appears to be written by two or more hands, with the painting done by yet another party. Over the years, three main theories about the manuscript's text have emerged. The first is that it's written in cypher, a secret code deliberately designed to hide secret meaning. The second is that the document is a hoax written in gibberish to make money off a gullible buyer. Some speculate the author was a medieval con man. Others, that it was Voynich himself. The third theory is that the manuscript is written in an actual language, but in an unknown script. Perhaps medieval scholars were attempting to create an alphabet for a language that was spoken but not yet written. In that case, the Voynich manuscript might be like the rongorongo script invented on Easter Island, now unreadable after the culture that made it collapsed. Though no one can read the Voynich manuscript, that hasn't stopped people from guessing what it might say. Those who believe the manuscript was an attempt to create a new form of written language speculate that it might be an encyclopedia containing the knowledge of the culture that produced it. Others believe it was written by the 13th century philosopher Roger Bacon, who attempted to understand the universal laws of grammar, or in the 16th century by the Elizabethan mystic John Dee, who practiced alchemy and divination. More fringe theories that the book was written by a coven of Italian witches, or even by Martians. After 100 years of frustration, scientists have recently shed a little light on the mystery. The first breakthrough was the carbon dating. Also, contemporary historians have traced the provenance of the manuscript back through Rome and Prague to as early as 1612, when it was perhaps passed from Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to his physician, Jacobus Sinapius. In addition to these historical breakthroughs, linguistic researchers recently proposed the provisional identification of a few of the manuscript's words. Could the letters beside these seven stars spell Tauran, a name for Taurus, a constellation that includes the seven stars called the Pleiades? Could this word be Centaurun for the Centaurea plant in the picture? Perhaps, but progress is slow. If we can crack its code, what might we find? The dream journal of a 15th-century illustrator? A bunch of nonsense? Or the lost knowledge of a forgotten culture? What do you think it is?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
voynich manuscript	2

Important Words

accompany
actual
addition
alchemy
alphabet
appears
astrology
attempt
attempted
attempting
author
bacon
bathing
beinecke
biggest
bizarre
book
bookseller
borrowed
breakthrough
breakthroughs
brought
bunch
buyer
called
carbon
case
castles
centaurea
centaurun
centimeter
century
characteristics
characters
code
collapsed
college
con
consistent
constellation
contemporary
continued
copy
coven
crack
create
cryptologists
culture
cypher
dated
dating
decorated
dee
deep
deliberately
designed
diagrams
divination
document
drawings
dream
early
easter
elizabethan
embellishments
emerged
emperor
encyclopedia
eventually
experts
faces
features
figure
find
floating
forgotten
form
frequencies
fringe
frustration
gallows
generator
gibberish
grammar
groups
guessing
gullible
hands
handwriting
height
hide
highly
historians
historical
hoax
holy
identification
ii
illustrator
images
imaginary
includes
invented
island
italian
italy
jacobus
jesuit
john
journal
knowledge
language
languages
laws
letter
letters
library
lies
light
linguistic
looping
lost
main
man
manuscript
martians
meaning
medieval
money
moons
mysteries
mystery
mystic
named
nonsense
pages
painting
party
passed
patterns
people
philosopher
physician
picture
plant
plants
pleiades
polish
practiced
prague
priest
produced
progress
proposed
provenance
provisional
purchased
puzzle
puzzled
random
rare
read
real
reason
represent
researchers
rings
roger
roman
rome
rongorongo
rudolf
scholars
scientists
script
scripts
secret
secrets
seemingly
shed
sinapius
slow
speculate
spell
spoken
stars
stolen
stopped
style
suns
taller
tauran
taurus
text
theories
theory
tome
traced
understand
unique
universal
unknown
unreadable
unsolved
varied
vellum
vibrant
voynich
wilfrid
witches
women
word
words
writing
written
wrote
yale
years
zodiac