Re: Oh no, someone else has been at the Voynich manuscript ... but wait ...

I cross-posted the conversation to another discussion group, and had the
following replies.

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It's an attractive theory because it's simple, arguing that the MS is just
mundane stuff, not arcane and secret knowledge. We also need to remember
that languages and dialects were far more local then and in backwaters
dialects could develop in completely different directions from their larger
parent language. Italy, divided politically and geographically, is
plausible in this case -- after all a form of ancient Greek survived as a
spoken language in parts of the south into modern times. That said, the
claim still needs to be evidenced.

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"Proto Romance" of necessity existed. How else do we get from Late Latin to
French, Italian etc. But such is the low level of literacy, and the
stranglehold of Latin, where do we see it ever written? For instance, Old
French texts are uncommon before the Millennium -- the Oaths of Strasbourg,
Ste Eulalie, and we are into the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The
continent never had England's rich vernacular culture.

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RH