Language Candidates

The Geographic Target: Northern Europe

Above is a map that targets a broad area which contains cultures that employ similar symbolism and ritual to that found in the Voynich manuscript. What symbolism and ritual? Torcs, drop spindles, distaffs, seidr staffs, sun spirals, eight-pointed stars, sun-mothers, spa/banya, ceremonial spoons, women's choirs singing rune songs/leelo, waterbirds, lizards, rainbows, headdresses, etc., etc, as discussed in the rest of these posts.

Having a long history of war, invasions, and migration, this northern European area is extraordinarily rich with diverse dialects and languages, quite a few in danger of becoming extinct.

"I am convinced that the manuscript is a text in a medieval North Germanic dialect. hitherto unknown, at least insofar as the script is concerned."

"The Voynich Manuscript Revisited" by James R. Child. The original version of this paper was received in the Cryptolog editorial office 16 February 1976 and was published in the April 1976 issue of that periodical.

I have found that Voynichese originates not only from Old Norse but also proto-Finnish and old Slavic. Thus, the closest modern languages to Voynichese would be a mix of the oldest words in Norwegian, Estonian, and Slovenian. The manuscript contains words the roots of which are found in languages from Scandinavia, Karelia, and the Baltic countries, and a few words from the far north of the UK and Sapmi. Multiple language origins may appear to disprove the original and unique transcription alphabet used in this blog, but given that all of these languages reside within the target above, these borrowings reinforce instead of disprove that transcription. These northern languages have for centuries shared words. There has been a wash of borrowings among the various peoples in this region, many of whom were seafaring merchants and tradespeople.

Although Finns wouldn't be happy reading Voynichese as anything like Finnish and Swedes wouldn't be happy reading Voynichese as anything like Swedish, this blending actually isn't the major obstacle to solving the Voynich manuscript. The major obstacle to comprehension isn't even the arcane nature of the words. It's people's own biases toward languages, cultures, and genders.

The Major Language Origins

Slavic - Croatian

Voynichese is a blend of old Slavic with old Finno-Ugric and Old Norse. There are a few places where such a dialect could exist, namely the regions that border Austria, Hungary, and Croatia: Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. This geographic target is based solely on the words in the Voynich manuscript and not the graphics or rosette map. While Voynichese might be a dialect from within any of these three regions, its subject matter appears to go well beyond the geographic target indicated by its language.

Old Norse

Prevalence of Old Norse and related languages in early 10th century

A manuscript written in Sweden at around the time the Voynich manuscript was written

Diplomatarium Norvegicum (b.III s.460)  Nummer: 636., Dato: 25 Mars 14l8. 

Finno-Ugric 

Finno-Ugric covers peoples from Sapmi to Hungary to Siberia. Finnish borrowed from Baltic languages in remote times and later from Germanic languages and Russian. Loanwords from Indo-Iranian seem to be the oldest. Mari, Udmurt, and the Ob-Ugric languages are rich in Turkic loanwords.

Here are some more examples of words that are in fact used in the Voynich, most of them having Finnic roots:

Perheit – medicine to boost fertility (to have a family) f102v2

Alkeisa – fixative, chemical base f99r

Taikuus – magic

Isogaisa/esaikaisa – superb f23r

Teit - to do

Eparlasai - a fixative for liver of sulfur

Kela – coil f99r

Apai – aunt (Slavic)

Eiere – source

Ikke and ei for not

Apara – upper body

Epais – chubby

Kepkei – capped

Kepka – cap

Ekepker – caps (Slavic)

Leiks - dock/sorrel 

Sareiaia - wound treatment

Eluksa elusa samalla elusai - life will come as life is now as life was in the past, akin to "this too shall pass" or "life is a river" or the refrain in the Lament of Deor: "That went away, this also may." f82v 

Pilgrimage

From Tibet to Greece to Ethiopia, holy places of pilgrimage that have to do 

Woman from Sapmi
feeding reindeer calf

with water exist the world over. The Voynich manuscript may in fact depict such a setting (a cave with hot springs) to which a yearly pilgrimage was made by people from a far wider area. Hence the variety of head-dresses, held objects, and hair color. Like nothing else during the 15th c., pilgrimages gave women freedom to travel. In the United Kingdom such sacred sites whose significance reach farther back than Christianity and hosted pilgrimages are well researched and documented, but in comparison there is a paucity of information on sites outside of the UK. The holy place, called a seita, is a central idea in the ancient north-European culture of the Sami. As you read this blog, you will see the Sami mentioned more than once. As aboriginal people, they left an indelible footprint on this region, and I believe you can find echoes of their culture throughout the pages of the manuscript.

The old tradition of monasteries as healing centres continued throughout the late Middle Ages. In particular, the ancient learning of herbal tradition was preserved and transmitted in monastic manuscripts," as is exemplified in the chapter of Niiranen, in which the herbal recipes of the monastery of Naantali is analysed. Such learning was not a monopoly of monks and nuns and herbal guide books were used in lay settings as well. During the last centuries of the Middle Ages lay settings became increasingly important in the field of healing, as monasteries lost a lot of their former importance after the birth of universities. From the fourteenth century on, new types of sources such as health books and personal health guides, texts produced mainly for the upper middle class, increased in number. Guide books were composed also by the elite, as McClecry's analysis of the Portuguese king Duarte's (1433-1438) texts, Loyal Counsellor and Book of Advice, reveals. Not only living well but also dying well was in the interest of medieval people; these moral issues were also empha-sised in artistic representations, as Sophie Oosterwijk argues in her chapter "This Worlde is but a Pilgrimage': Mental Attitudes in/to the Medieval Dante Macabre." 

From Mental (Dis)Order in Later Medieval Europe 

The Candidates

Norway

In my opinion, for several reasons, there is no better candidate for the Voynich manuscript than the old Kven language.

The Kven language is a Finnic language spoken in northern Norway by the Kven people. For political and historical reasons, it received the status of a minority language in 2005 within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Linguistically, however, it is seen as a mutually intelligible dialect of the Finnish language, and grouped together with the Peräpohjola dialects such as Meänkieli, spoken in Torne Valley in Sweden.

Contrary to popular belief, the dialects spoken by the Kvens and Kainuu peoples are not closely related. The Kainuu dialect is one of the Savonian dialects that was formed from the 16th century onwards, when immigrants from Savonia started to settle in the northern wastelands.

The Kven language has come to incorporate many Norwegian loanwords, such as tyskäläinen (from the Norwegian word tysk, meaning German) instead of standard Finnish saksalainen. The Kven language also uses some old Finnish words that are no longer used in Finland.

Like the old Kven tongue, Voynichese is FINNO-NORSE with quite a few Slavic borrowings.

The Voynich manuscript may in fact be written in the old Kven tongue. Because this is looking so very, very likely, I have devoted an entire post to the Kvens and the Voynich Manuscript. Here, I will stick to discussing language aspects. Interestingly, numerous early Germanic words have survived largely unchanged as borrowings in Finnic languages. Some of these may be of Proto-Germanic origin or older still, while others reflect developments specific to Norse. Some examples (with the reconstructed Proto-Norse form):

• Estonian/Finnish kuningas < *kuningaz "king" (Old Norse kunungr, konungr)
• Finnish ruhtinas "prince" < *druhtinaz "lord" (Old Norse dróttinn)
• Finnish sairas "sick" < *sairaz "sore" (Old Norse sárr)
• Estonian juust, Finnish juusto "cheese" < *justaz (Old Norse ostr)
• Estonian/Finnish lammas "sheep" < *lambaz "lamb" (Old Norse lamb)
• Finnish hurskas "pious" < *hurskaz "prudent, wise, quick-minded" (Old Norse horskr)
• Finnish runo "poem, rune" < *rūno "secret, mystery, rune" (Old Norse rún)
• Finnish vaate "garment" < *wādiz (Old Norse váð)
• Finnish viisas "wise" < *wīsaz (Old Norse víss)

The old Kven language in its original form has in part vanished and in part it has greatly contributed to and has assimilated with other Fennoscandian languages.

Kven Dialects (excerpted from Kvensk institutt)

Nordreisa 1892/1893

Se oli kerran yks mies, joka meni väylhän kaloja pyytämhän. Niin se tuli kova sää, ja

hän pölkäis kovasti. Mutta se hän havais, että se tuli joku niinku mies yli riipon, ja se

tahtoi voolin hältä, ja se antoi sillet sen; mutta se pölkäis sallaa. Mutta vaikka oli kova

sää, se ei tullu kuitenkaan noppa venheesen, ja ku het tulthin liki kotipaikka, niin se

katois meritrolli, ja mies pääsi lykylisesti kothiin. 

Kvænangen 1892/1893

Se oli Nilla yhen lantalaisen nimi, joka tuli Alattihjan tässä viime satavuosilu’ussa, ja

hän otti asuman Jokitörmälet. Ennen häntä olit jo ruijalaiset asuhman tulhet sinnet,

ja Tanskan kuninkas oli lähättynyt yhen amtmannin Alattihjan; mutta hän oli kovin

kova mies, ryösti ausjilta kaikkit, mitä hänen mielestä oli hället tarpheelinen ja hyvä.

Vadsø (12.2.1917)

Finmarkussa on ushein pahat säät; muutamat tormit on niin kovat että niitä muistethan

vuosikymmeniä. Kahestoista fepruaari yheksäntoista sattaa ja seittemäntoista

oli semmonen tormi ympäri Finmarkkua. S’oli kovviin Vesisaaren tienhoila. Se

paukahti juuriko pyssynsuusta vähhää ennen puoltapäivää, ja tuli niin ankaran lumituiskun kansa, että ethensä ei nähny, ja että oli vaikia saaha vettää henkiä. 

Børselv ~ 1922Täälä on kova ja pitkä talvi; oktooperissa jo alkkaa täysi kova talvi; ei ennään saateta fiskata; ainuastansa net fiskarit, joila on hyvät muturiseitat, fiskaavat vielä. Tässä kylässä ei ole ko yhđelä miehelä muturiseitta; muila ei ole ko pienet, aukkeet venheet. Silläpä se jouttuu pienilä venetfiskarilla kovaksi ja pitkäksi talvi.

Kainuu Sami

Kainuu Sami is an extinct Sami language that was spoken in Kainuu. It became extinct in the 1700s when the Kainuu Sami probably assimilated and shifted to speak Finnish. Kainuu Sámi belonged to the Eastern Sámi language group.

Sweden

Westrobothnian  (Västerbotten, Sweden)

The Westrobothnian language is native to at least the southern regions and historians see the area north of Skellefteå as a part of the primeval land called Kvenland, which is discussed in several historical accounts.

Förord.

kusmark.bloggsida.se/ visar historien om Kusmarkskläppen

Att bevara vårat tungomål från mina hemtrakter i Övre Kågedalen så har jag nedtecknat min berättelse på Skelleftebondska från Kusmark.

Här kan Du följa historien från Kläppen Kusmark där dom tre barnen blev faderlösa i ung ålder och hur änkan kämpade med sin familj för att få ekonomin att gå ihop.

Far i familjen dog nitton hundra femtio och efterlämnade hustru med tre små barn varav det yngsta barnet endast sju månader gammalt.

Berättelsen utvecklar sig dom förtio åren frsmåt där min Mor åldrades och jag själv bildade familj.

Att i dag sätta sig in i femtio talet och utvecklingen frammåt är syftet med denna berättelse

Elfdalian or Övdalian 

(Övdalsk or Övdalską in Elfdalian, Älvdalska or Älvdalsmål in Swedish)

Elfdalian is a North Germanic language spoken by c. 2,000 people who live or have grown up in the parish of Övdaln, which is located in the southeastern part of Älvdalen Municipality in Northern Dalarna, Sweden.

Like the other Nordic languages, Elfdalian developed from Old Norse, a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. It developed in relative isolation since the Middle Ages and is considered to have remained closer to Old Norse than the other Dalecarlian dialects.

Oller so og ų og neve ð åvå.

 all who eyes and nose have 

Meänkieli

Meänkieli is a Finnic language spoken by the Tornedalian people in Sweden. It is so closely related to Finnish that they are mutually intelligible, and is sometimes considered a dialect of Finnish. Meänkieli is mainly used in the municipalities of Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala and Övertorneå, all of which lie in the Torne Valley. Between 40,000 and 70,000 people speak Meänkieli as their first language.

Joka neljäs vuosi kansa valittee kukka

Skånska - Scanian

Old Swedish from the southern tip of Sweden, heavily influenced by Danish.

pantoffel or pära, "potato" (Standard Swedish: potatis, Danish: kartoffel; pära related to Swedish päron, "pear", Danish: pære "pear").

påg, "boy" (Standard Swedish: pojke, former Danish: poge / pog)

rälig, "disgusting", "ugly", "frightening" (Standard Swedish äcklig, ful, skrämmande/otäck, former Swedish rälig, dialect Danish: rærlig)

rullebör, "wheelbarrow" (Standard Swedish: skottkärra, Danish: rullebør, trillebør)

romma, "hit" (Standard Swedish: träffa)

trist or tradig, "boring" (Standard Swedish: tråkig, Danish: trist )

tåcke, "cock, rooster" (Standard Swedish: tupp)

spann, "bucket" (Standard Swedish: hink, Danish: spand )

skobann or skoband, "shoelace" (Standard Swedish: skosnöre, Danish: snørebånd )

syllten, "hungry" (Standard Swedish: hungrig, Former Swedish svulten, Danish sulten)

tös, "girl" (Standard Swedish: flicka or tös (archaic), Danish: pige or tøs)

vann, "water" (Standard Swedish: vatten, Danish: vand)

Savonian

The area of Savonian dialects (also called Savo Finnish) consist one third of the whole area of Finland. Belonging to eastern Finnish, Savonian is divided to more specific dialect groups by locale:

Northern: Hankasalmi, Haukivuori, Heinävesi, Iisalmi, Joroinen...
Southern: Anttola, Hirvensalmi, Juva, Kangasniemi, Mikkeli...
Middle: Savonlinna between Southern Savonia and North Karelia: Enonkoski...
Enonkoski Eastern: Eno, Ilomantsi, Joensuu, Juuka, Kesälahti...
Kainuu Savonian: Hyrynsalmi, Kajaani, Kuhmo, Kuusamo, Paltamo, Posio...Keuruu-Evijärvi: Keuruu-Evijärvi, Evijärvi, Keuruu, Lappajärvi, Lehtimäki, Pihlajavesi...
Ostrobotnia
Värmland Savonian: Also the language spoken by forest settlers in Värmland and Norwegian Hedmark of Central Scandinavia belonged to the old Savonian dialects. 

Just within the Savonian language, there are a lot of stones to turn over.

 

A linguistic peculiarity

Lindströms- or Haukilahti-residents have had a linguistic peculiarity of their dialect, which gave rise to speculation about their ancestors. They merely as the population in Roslagen in Sweden left off the h-sound in the beginning of words. It could thus allow e.g. this: -inrik throw -anskan baking -önsen that Biela see in -amplande. Or this: -erren s -ulpit us with his -eliga -ögra -and -ela -östen. http://sydaby.eget.net/eng/nybond/lindstro.htm

Karelia and its many languages

Karelia is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden. It is currently divided between the Russian Republic of Karelia, the Russian Leningrad Oblast, and Finland (the regions of South Karelia and North Karelia). The Karelian language is spoken in the Republic of Karelia and also in the Tver Karelian villages. The Veps language is spoken on both sides of the River Svir. The so-called Karelian dialects of Finnish language which are spoken mainly in Finnish South Karelia form the southeastern dialect group of Finnish. Similar dialects are also spoken in Ingria, which is an area between the Estonian border and Lake Ladoga. They appeared there in the 17th century after the Swedish conquest of the area. The older inhabitants of the Ingria, the Ingrians, have their own language which is related to the Karelian language and the south-eastern dialects of Finnish. The dialects in Finnish North Karelia belong to the large group of Savonian dialects in Eastern and Central Finland. Karelians who evacuated from Finnish Karelia resettled all over Finland and today there are approximately one million people in Finland having their roots in the area ceded to the Soviet Union after the World War II. In Finland, about 5,000 people speak Karelian.

Veps

Vedyot vedrehet, jovet hil'l'ažet,
Hŏyryăy kynnătes, niitty suottoloil,
Turbei koivikko, peldo vil'l'ažu,
Anusrandaine, randu tuattoloin.
Kaste hobjaine, zor'ku kullattu,
Suuri sammalsuo, muur'oi mageihut;
Ongo jărvyžis sinul kyllytty,
Anusrandaine, randu lageihut.
Kevătkăgŏihyt kukkuu helăittăy,
Randu Luadogan liettojauhožes.
Hyvăh sobužeh kaikkii elăttăy,
Anusrandaine, randu rauhažu.

Ludic

Oi Ukk, armaz D’umalaine,
Oi Sepp, ilman tagojaine.
Kut milei eläda täll mual,
Kut milei kestada tänpäi?
Anda oma anhelaine,
Pane pühä Miikulaine
Milei d’o abutamaha,
Mindai d’o vard’uočemaha
Turvaks-se elon toraižes,
Abuks-se minun ruaduožes.

Livvi

No milbo min; avvutan?
Kui nũgői sinuu elvũttiã?
Ni kãit, ni vãit et tãvvũtã,
Kui ruavos jugies selvitã?
On sinuu, armas, pengottu,
On hãtken sudre sũrjittũ.
Sa nũgői odva hengitãt,
Jo lamonnuh da murjottu.
Et oliš toižii jũhmembi,

Ruskeala Marble Caves

Ruskeala has the extremely green water and corrugated, vaulted ceilings depicted in the Voynich manuscript. Though there are watery caves throughout Europe, I have yet to find any place on earth that so looks like that depicted in the manuscript. At any rate, this shows that such places do exist, and in northern Europe.

Estonia

The words in the Voynich manuscript point to a place whose language was greatly influenced by Old

Norse, proto-Finnic, and Balto-Slavic. All three of those language origins point very strongly to Estonia. There are numerous watery caves, blondes are in the majority, and Estonia has a very rich heritage of folk singing and folk ritual. All of these fit with what is in the Voynich manuscript.

Estonia also has the distinction of being a nation where Christianity was held at bay the longest. For example, in 1261, warfare continued as the Oeselians (Estonians inhabiting the island Saaremaa) had once again renounced Christianity and killed all the Germans on the island. A peace treaty was signed after the united forces of the Livonian Order, the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek, the forces of Danish Estonia including mainland Estonians and Latvians defeated the Oeselians by conquering the Kaarma stronghold. Soon thereafter, the Livonian Order established a stone fort at Pöide.

Kuressaare Castle

On 24 July 1343, during St. George's Night Uprising, the Oeselians killed all the Germans on the island, drowned all the clerics and started to besiege the Livonian Order's castle at Pöide. The Oeselians levelled the castle and killed all the defenders. In February 1344, Burchard von Dreileben led a campaign over the frozen sea to Saaremaa. The Oeselians' stronghold was conquered and their leader Vesse was hanged. In the early spring of 1345, the next campaign of the Livonian Order took place that ended with a treaty mentioned in the Chronicle of Hermann von Wartberge and the Novgorod First Chronicle. Saaremaa remained the vassal of the master of the Livonian Order, and the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek. In 1559, after the fall of the Livonian order in Livonian War, the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek sold Saaremaa to Frederick II of Denmark, who resigned the lands to his brother Duke Magnus of Holstein until the island was taken back to the direct administration of Denmark and in 1645 became a part of Sweden by the Treaty of Brömsebro.

The aibofolket or Estonian Swedes

Estonian Swedes ("aibofolket", the Estonian rannarootslased "coastal Swedes" or eestirootslased) is a Swedish-speaking minority who traditionally inhabited the coastal areas and islands in what is now western and northern Estonia. The area, known among Estonian Swedes who Aiboland, has been inhabited by Estonian Swedes since 1200 and 1300 centuries, when their ancestors arrived from present Sweden and Finland. In the mid-1600s, the number of Estonian Swedes about 10 000 people, corresponding to 2-3 per cent of the country's contemporary population. Almost all of Estonian Swedes fled to Sweden during the Second World War and only a few now living permanently in Estonia.

At least since the 1200s have lived Swedes in Estonia. In the 1210- and 1220-quarters conquered Germans and Danes, Estonians areas. Traditionally, lived Estonians not to a greater extent in the coastal areas. Therefore began local landlords attract Swedish settlers to their lands. Swedes perceived Moreover, as more trustworthy than the Estonians who recently converted to Christianity.

There is no exact information about where the Swedes who moved to Estonia came from, and the

migration is not mentioned in contemporary sources. The migrants came apparently from Gotland, from the east coast of Sweden and Finland from Swedish settlements. The first written mention of Swedes in Estonia is from 1294 from Haapsalu. The source mentioned that the Swedes also live on the island of Saaremaa, except in Haapsalu. Further mention of Swedes in Estonia years 1341 and 1345 when the Padis Monastery sold Laoküla Farm and Big Pakri a group of Swedes. The first document that mentions the Swedes on Runö is from 1341 of a letter by the Bishop of Courland which confirmed the islanders' right to live and conduct business under Swedish law.

There was no unified Estonian-Swedish dialect but several. The Estonian-Swedish dialects are the variants of Östsvenska goals and have been impressed by the Estonian pronunciation and grammar. At the same time affected the Swedish language in the Estonian language. Dialects, also old Scandinavian words. The ancient traits was because the population was isolated from the other Swedish-speaking regions and therefore national Swedes do not completely understand Estonian Swedish. Runö had its own dialect, in Ormsö-Nuckö-Rickul spoke to its variant and there was also a variation in Rågöarna- vihterpalu. Hiiumaa dialect disappeared from the island of Hiiumaa, but it is still spoken by some Gammalsvenskby (called Gammölsvänskbi on dagödialekt). Naissaar -dialekten disappeared in the 1800s. In the current situation there is between a dozen and a hundred speakers of Estonian-Swedish Estonia and Sweden between a few hundred and a thousand. Standard Swedish is replacing Estonian-Swedish in Sweden and Estonia.

Now, here is why one of these dialects is such a good candidate. First, most of them are extinct, so no one would recognize the language off the bat. Second, it would differ enough from the main languages for those speakers not to recognize it. For example, a Swede would immediately say, "That's not Swedish." A Finn would immediately say, "That's not Finnish." And even an Estonian would be hard-pressed to recognize it because of the heavy Old Norse influence. This would also explain why the women are holding up torcs, which are associated with Celtic and Norse cultures mainly, not Baltic or Slavic or Finnic cultures.

Naissaar is in particular a most remarkable candidate, as that is the isle that was known as "The Land of Women."

Elsewhere in Estonia, such as Muhu or Setomaa

As mentioned elsewhere, the Estonian root for life, "elu," factors prominently on just about every page of the Voynich. The star charts are in keeping with the massive brooches worn by Estonian women. The mythological landscape depicted within the Voynich is could well be Estonia's Finnic cosmology.

Photo of a young Estonian in a cottage courtyard on the "Island of Moon" - Muhu

The singing/chanting throughout the Voynich is something practiced by many women's choirs within Estonian ethnic groups. Therefore, the Voynich manuscript may be in some Estonian dialect other than the extinct Swedish Estonian.

Setomaa

Setomaa is a region south of Lake Peipus, located in southeastern Estonia and northwestern Russia. It is inhabited by the Seto people, an autochthonous ethnic and linguistic minority. The Seto language (like Finnish and Estonian) belongs to the Balto-Finnic group of the Finno-Ugric languages. Some consider it a variety of South Estonian while others consider an independent language.

The Setus remember their ancient customs, folk songs, tales, dances and rituals remarkably better than all other regions in Estonia. A substantial amount of folk song texts in the Estonian Literature Museum have been recorded in Setumaa. The remarkable aspect here is that the songs sung by some illiterate Setu singers have been estimated to be over 5000 years old and several experts claim the Setu people to be the oldest settled people in Europe – they have not participated in any migrations.

Seto

Näütüs nõst üles küüsümüisi ja pruum avita’ seto identiteedi vahtsõstmõtõstamisõlõ. „Mia om Setomaa, kiä om seto? Määne om õigõ seto? Kas seto saa olla’ õnnõ vere perrä vai om tuu valiku küüsümüs?,“ lugõ Ellermäe näütüse teemasit ette. 

Wiki's Comparison of old South Estonian (Tartu) literary language, modern South Estonian (Võro) and modern standard Estonian:

Lord's Prayer (Meie Esä) in old literary South Estonian (Tartu):

Meie Esä Taiwan: pühendetüs saagu sino nimi. Sino riik tulgu. Sino tahtmine sündigu kui Taiwan, niida ka maa pääl. Meie päiwälikku leibä anna meile täämbä. Nink anna meile andis meie süü, niida kui ka meie andis anname omile süidläisile. Nink ärä saada meid mitte kiusatuse sisse; enge pästä meid ärä kurjast: Sest sino perält om riik, nink wägi, nink awwustus igäwätses ajas. Aamen.

Lord's Prayer (Mi Esä) in modern literary South Estonian (Võro):

Mi Esä taivan: pühendedüs saaguq sino nimi. Sino riik tulguq. Sino tahtminõ sündkuq, ku taivan, nii ka maa pääl. Mi päävälikku leibä annaq meile täämbä. Nink annaq meile andis mi süüq, nii ku ka mi andis anna umilõ süüdläisile. Ni saatku-i meid joht kiusatusõ sisse, a pästäq meid ärq kur’ast, selle et sino perält om riik ja vägi ni avvustus igävädses aos. Aamõn.

Lord's Prayer (Meie isa) in modern standard Estonian:

Meie isa, kes Sa oled taevas: pühitsetud olgu Sinu nimi. Sinu riik tulgu. Sinu tahtmine sündigu, nagu taevas, nõnda ka maa peal. Meie igapäevast leiba anna meile tänapäev. Ja anna meile andeks meie võlad, nagu meiegi andeks anname oma võlglastele. Ja ära saada meid kiusatusse, vaid päästa meid ära kurjast. Sest Sinu päralt on riik ja vägi ja au igavesti. Aamen.

Taevaskoja, Põlva Parish, southern Estonia

Maiden Cave or Virgin's Cave

Mother's spring

Norn, Faroese

Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland) off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in Caithness in the far north of the Scottish mainland. After Orkney and Shetland were pledged to Scotland by Norway in 1468/69, it was gradually replaced by Scots.

The following are Norn and Old Norse versions of the Lord's Prayer (from Wiki):

Orkney Norn:

Favor i ir i chimrie, / Helleur ir i nam thite,

gilla cosdum thite cumma, / veya thine mota vara gort

o yurn sinna gort i chimrie, / ga vus da on da dalight brow vora

Firgive vus sinna vora / sin vee Firgive sindara mutha vus,

lyv vus ye i tumtation, / min delivera vus fro olt ilt.

Amen.

Shetland Norn:

Fyvor or er i Chimeri. / Halaght vara nam dit.

La Konungdum din cumma. / La vill din vera guerde

i vrildin sindaeri chimeri. / Gav vus dagh u dagloght brau.

Forgive sindorwara / sin vi forgiva gem ao sinda gainst wus.

Lia wus ikè o vera tempa, / but delivra wus fro adlu idlu.

[For do i ir Kongungdum, u puri, u glori.] Amen.

Old West Norse:

Faþer vár es ert í himenríki, / verði nafn þitt hæilagt

Til kome ríke þitt, / værði vili þin

sva a iarðu sem í himnum. / Gef oss í dag brauð vort dagligt

Ok fyr gefþu oss synþer órar, / sem vér fyr gefom þeim er viþ oss hafa misgert

Leiðd oss eigi í freistni, / heldr leys þv oss frá ollu illu.

Amen.

Faroese

Faðir vár, tú sum ert í himlinum. / Heilagt verði navnið títt.

Komi ríkið títt. / Verði vilji tín,

so sum á himli, so á jørð. / Gev okkum í dag okkara dagliga breyð.

Fyrigev okkum syndir okkara, / so sum vit eisini fyrigeva teimum, ið móti okkum synda.

Leið okkum ikki í freistingar, / men frels okkum frá tí illa.

[Tí at títt er ríkið, valdið og heiðurin um aldur og allar ævir.] Amen.

Russian regions

Permic languages make up a division of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, consisting of the Udmurt (Votyak), Komi (Zyryan), and Permyak (Komi-Permyak) languages. For liturgical purposes as early as the 14th century, Permic languages would have been written using the Old Permic script, which bears no resemblance to the Voynich script. The Permic alphabet was replaced by Cyrillic in the 17th century. It is unlikely the language used in the Voynich originated this far east, but not outside the realm of possibility. Given the depictions of a red-headed woman and a ceremonial spoon, plus the resemblance of some of the other graphics to Permian artifacts, the manuscript may have Permian influences in the form of belief systems, or while not written in Komi or Udmurts yet may show representatives from this area on pilgrimage.

Tanechkinu cave, Staraya Ladoga, Russia

Vologda

Even this limited area, sometimes considered a stronghold of "pure" Russianness, contains ethnic and cultural variety derived from a complex interaction of history and geography. Inhabited by Finnish tribes before the arrival of the first Slavic explorers and traders, it served as a place of retreat and spiritual solace for the avatars of Muscovite monasticism during the 14th and 15th centuries. At the same time the wealth of its forests and lakes, as well as its position astride trading routes north to the White Sea and west to the Baltic, led to the creation of towns that would become repositories of Russian traditions in the arts and crafts. More here.

Udmurtia

Anthropologists relate Udmurts to the Urals branch of Europeans. Most of them are of the middle size, often have blue or gray eyes, high cheek-bones and wide face. The Udmurt people are not of an athletic build but they are very hardy, and there have been claims that they are the "most red-headed" people in the world. Additionally, the ancient Budini tribe, which is speculated to be an ancestor of the modern Udmurts, were described by Herodotus as being predominantly red-headed.

Udmurt

emez - raspberries, raspberry
emez vӧly - raspberries
emezen yuyny tea - tea with raspberry
emez vӧlyyn gondyr but surymӟe - bear in the raspberry patch and weakens (pogov.)
Shunde - the sun, the solar
Shunde ӝuzhan - sunrise
Shunde Release - Sunset, sunset
Shunde ponna! - Honestly!
Shunde vyllan - Noonan azlan - sun above - a day ahead (pogov.)

Komi

Below is excerpted from Marja Leinonen's Russification of Komi. 

Compare the large ceremonial spoons to the one in the Voynich graphic below.

Komi 

Instead of pyvśan (‘sauna’) they say banja, instead of kaga (‘child’) diťa.

Mari

The Mari are a Finno-Ugric ethnic group, who have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama rivers in Russia. They have their own language, also called Mari, which is a member of the Uralic language family. Maris have traditionally practiced a pagan faith that closely connected the individual with nature. According to their beliefs, nature exerts a magical influence over people. They relate to it as a sacred, powerful, and living being outside of which man can not exist. Nature serves as a source of absolute good who always helps man as long as he does not harm or oppose it.

Mari woman

Balto-Slavic

The Balts first came in close contact with their northern neighbours, the Baltic Finns, about 2000 bc. This contact left traces in both the Baltic and the Finnic languages. Baltic has very few early loanwords from Finnic, but Finnic has many early loans from Baltic. Latvian, with many loanwords from Livonian and Estonian (both Finnic languages), has been more influenced by Finnic than has any other recorded Baltic language.

Old Prussian is an extinct Baltic language, once spoken by the Old Prussians, or Sambians, the indigenous peoples of what is now northeastern Poland and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia.

Lord's Prayer in Old Prussian (from the so-called "1st Catechism")

Thawe nuson kas tu asse Andangon,

Swintits wirst twais Emmens;

Pergeis twais Laeims

Curonian language - Kuršininkai 

Curonians from Courland settled near Memel, along the Curonian Spit, and in Sambia (all regions in East Prussia). They preserved the old self-designation of Curonians (kurši), while Curonians who stayed in Courland became Latvians. Old Curonian disappeared in the course of the 16th century, leaving substrata in western dialects of the Latvian and Lithuanian, namely the Samogitian dialect. No written documents in this language are known, but some ancient Lithuanian texts from western regions show some Curonian influence.

Czech

I found this extremely intriguing place in the Czech Republic called Kokořín Castle. Nearby are various other castles, including Bezdez and Houska. In addition, there is a strange, huge rock maze and, of course, water.

 

This is a photo showing SPA Rajecké Teplice 

Teplice is known for its hot springs.

Conclusion

Look again at the map circling the area from which the Voynich is most likely, given this research, to have originated.

Of all the cultures, languages, and tribes that I have listed in this posting very few are outside this circle, and those that are, like the Faroe and Orkney Islands, do not lie far away. In fact, if I were to redo it, I'd budge it a little west to include them. As stated above, the watery caves depicted in the manuscript could have been an ancient place of pilgrimage for not just one people but many.

Blog Table of Contents

Why northern Europe?

The mystery is the hoax

Transcription alphabet

Language candidates

Names

The stars

The seasonal year

Design & symbol

The architecture

The map and its origin

No one here but us "nymphs"

What they look like

What they wear 

What they carry

Rune charms and water drumming

Sauna/Banya/Spa births

Meet the authors

The Baba Yaga and dappled others

Terra Feminarum and the Venusbergs

The Beauties of Bad Press

The Parliament at Augsburg

The Sami influence

The plants

The herbal jars

Castles and the rosette map