Researchers studying the Voynich Manuscript use what’s called an “interlinear transcription”: this interleaves different researchers’ interpretations of the (handwritten original) Voynich text, a line at a time. So, rather than having to constantly refer to, say, a contrast-enhanced image of the first line of the first page…

voynich-f1r-line1

…you can instead refer to its interlinear transcription, which is much more convenient, and yet lets you see the differences of opinion that various researchers have about how to read that line:

<f1r .P1.1;H>       fachys.ykal.ar.ataiin.shol.shory.cth!res.y.kor.sholdy!-
<f1r .P1.1;C>       fachys.ykal.ar.ataiin.shol.shory.cthorys.y.kor.sholdy!-
<f1r .P1.1;F>       fya!ys.ykal.ar.ytaiin.shol.shory.*k*!res.y!kor.sholdy!-
<f1r .P1.1;N>       fachys.ykal.ar.ataiin.shol.shory.cth!res.y,kor.sholdy!-
<f1r .P1.1;U>       fya!ys.ykal.ar.ytaiin.shol.shory.***!r*s.y.kor.sholdo*-

Anyway, given that I now have copies of (what might well be) all the printed versions of the Nageon de l’Estang papers, it struck me a few days ago that I should get round to putting them together into an interlinear transcription.

And there being no good reason not to, that’s exactly what I did. 🙂

The Interlinear Transcription

I’ve posted a page holding my Nageon de l’Estang interlinear transcription on the Cipher Foundation website.

The first few interlinear blocks of lines in BN1 (“Bernardin Nageon de l’Estang paper #1″) look like this:

FC: [l'an III de la République]

RC: Je pars m’enrôler et défendre la patrie. Comme je serai sans doute tué, je fais
FC: Je pars m'envoler et défendre la Patry,  comme je serai tué c'est sûre, je fais

RC: mon testament  et donne à mon neveu Jean Marius        Nageon de l'Estang,
FC: mon testament. Je donne à           Jean Marin  Justin Nageon de l'Estang,
LM:                Je donne à           Jean-Marius-Justin Najeon de l'Etang.

Here, [FC] stands for “Paul Fleuriau-Chateau”, a now-deceased Mauritian researcher from Rivière Noire, who included a transcription in his 2001 book “Aventuriers en mer”. The first line stands alone because the date Fleuriau-Chateau gave for BN1 does not appear in the other transcriptions at all. (In case you’re wondering, it’s a French Republican Calendar date equivalent to 1795).

The second set of interleaved lines appears both in Robert Charroux’s (“RC”) and in Fleuriau-Chateau’s (“FC”) copies, but not in any of the others: while the third set of lines appears in Charroux and in Fleuriau-Chateau, as well as in Loys Masson’s (“LM”) 1935 article.

Immediately you can see the kind of differences in play between the versions: but which are attempted corrections, which are miscopying, and which are insertions? What is original and what is make-believe? That is the $64,000 question (possibly even literally).

According to Le Clézio, circa 1901 his grandfather knew of numerous different copies of these papers floating around in what he called “grimoires” in Mauritius (p.105). So… might there be more versions out there?

Reading between the lines (so to speak), I think the answer is almost certainly yes: in fact, I suspect there may even be ten or more as-yet-unseen variants out there in private hands. However, only by bringing them all into the light and comparing them in a really analytical, scientific, open way do we stand any real chance of making sense of them as a whole.

Incidentally, my current interlinear transcription isn’t quite complete: the two photographs I took of page 56 of Paul Fleuriau-Chateau’s “Aventuriers en mer” turned out to be out of focus. So if anyone has access to a copy and/or can email me through a scan of p.56, that would be really helpful, thanks!

Le Club International des Chercheurs de Trésor?

Interestingly, I think that Robert Charroux’s omissions are quite telling, and this is something that hasn’t really been talked about before.

For a start, he mentions (but only includes the first couple of lines of) two further cryptic documents that I call “BN4” and “BN5” (which Fleuriau-Chateau and Le Clézio both include). His reason for not including them is that “Le teneur exacte de ces documents est le propriété du Club International des Chercheurs de Trésor“, ho-ho. But don’t worry, dear reader, he then assures you that “vous savez tout ce qu’il est permis de savoir sur les secrets de Nagéon de l’Estang“. You’re not on the list, you can’t come in.

For what it’s worth, I suspect that this also explains why Charroux left out the interesting section in BN2 from “au nord” to “testament” that says how to find the cave: because only a ‘true’ treasure hunter (i.e. a member of his club) could be trusted with such powerful knowledge.

Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It…

What can be done to move this research strand forward? For me, the answer is obvious: dig up more versions of these letters to add to the interlinear transcription.

I’m convinced that there simply must be photographs, scans, hand-copies, mentions, quotations, letters, newspaper articles and books (for example, in other languages) that I don’t know about out there and not just cut-and-pasted from Charroux (as seems to be the Internet norm). What can we find?

I’m similarly convinced that there must be archival documents on the Klondyke Company, and even on Le Club International des Chercheurs de Trésor, both of which tried so jealously to hold back Nageon de l’Estang’s secrets for themselves. And these documents must surely include multiple versions of the Nageon de l’Estang papers, right?

Finally, I’m also convinced that there are individuals out there who have collected their own versions of the letters: for his book, Paul Fleuriau-Chateau relied on Lucien Giraud and Jean Giraud. Is Lucien Giraud still alive?

For me, the big reason for trying to make a documentary is to find these people and just ask the right questions…

7 thoughts on “Interlinear transcription of the Nageon de l’Estang papers…

  1. Sorry, Nick:

    The interlinear translation method is NOT going to work on the so-called Voynich dialogues. Nor is the EVA going to give you a satisfactory translation.

    Once again I encourage you to compare the bilingual discussions which appear throughout the “Voynich” with Sahagun’s magnificent “Florentine Codex/Manuscript”, which is also bi-lingual — and extraordinary for the time of its composing and illustrations. .
    At this rate, you are not going to get much funding for what appears to be a very confused, slapped together, translation method (EVA) which, so far, has not yet yielded any results.
    Your website is my favorite on-line reading and puzzle-solving coffee break(s). Please don’t bar me from your fascinating website !!
    I wish I could donate to your funding page. I am a retired elderly researcher who has, in the past, found many “missing’ or misfiled documents for various agencies (US government, County governments, and even hospitals (including a public health service hospital in the middle of the AIDS epidemic.

    bd

  2. Jim Shilliday on September 25, 2016 at 4:14 pm said:

    @bdid.. Quite a reaction to a post that wasn’t really about the Voynich. And the funding request isn’t for EVA, it’s for a fun documentary on a harmless daydream that we all share, of finding buried treasure.

    Nick said “interlinear transcription,” not “translation.” If you want to know what something means, you first need to know what it is. You heard it here first: my theory, and I’m sticking to it, is that the d’Estaing papers are in French.

    Nick once wrote a fine book claiming that the Voynich is too, but the jury’s still out on that one.

  3. @ Mr. Shilliday: Thanks for correcting my latest contribution to Nick’s puzzles. I got lost and left behind when I had to see what the commotion was all about downstairs/street level. Turns out it wasn’t another rescue parade from the ferocious forest fires.
    Thank you Nick for your patience and hospitality. When I’m not ‘on-line’, I’m trying to locate the weaver of the beautiful “Two Gray Hills” Navajo/Hopi rug which I bought from a trader (in the 1970’s) near Canyon de Chelley. At that same time, I met Valjean Joshevema (at the Hopi Museum). Mr. Joshevema re-started the silver jewelry trade.
    In recent years, Mr. Joshevema and his family have sponsored/produced several films in re the destructive oil wells which were dug not only in Navajo/Hopi territories but also Alaskan and Canadian Native lands.

    bd

  4. It all “boils down” to what can be called ‘treasure’ — and where it can be found.
    bd

  5. George Bush Jr. was dealing with Canadian oil well developers to run oil pipelines through the Black Hills (and maybe Sioux) territories. The Black Hills Native Americans specialize in pink and green gold jewelry.
    bd

  6. bdid1dr on October 1, 2016 at 3:10 pm said:

    @Jim Shilladay: Take another look at the illustration which Nick displays at the top of this discussion. Note that it is a slice of Nahuatl discussion from the so-called “Voynich” manuscript. I apologize, Nick, if I’ve complicated your presentation and derailed discussion of the EVA translation.
    bd

  7. bdid1dr on October 1, 2016 at 9:41 pm said:

    Again at Mr. Shilladay:

    I have great respect for our host. Several months ago, I offered to buy both his first book about the Voynich Manuscript (now known as B-408 at Boenicke Library, Yale University). I’m still looking forward to his next mystery publication. Not too long ago, Nick accepted my apology for another ‘issue” which we settled via a “tempest in a teapot” (caused by me).

    @ Nick: It turns out that I will not be having cataract surgery after all. So, if it does turn out that I am misreading any of your posts Puh-leeze lemme kno !!

    bd

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