Has the Voynich manuscript been decoded? Mysterious 15th century text may be written in a lost AZTEC language

The Voynich manuscript was discovered in an Italian monastery in 1912

Due to its location, historians think the manuscript was written in Europe

It is full of illustrations, diagrams and a mysterious text written left to right

Cryptographers have been trying to decipher this text for decades

Botanist now claims the plants in the book come from Mexico



This suggests the book may be written in an Aztec language called Nahuatl

For decades, researchers have been trying in vain to decipher ancient texts written on the Voynich manuscript - yet they may have been looking for inspiration in the wrong place.

A U.S. botanist studied illustrations of the plants throughout the 15th century book and pinpointed a number of them to the region now known as Mexico.



Dr. Arthur Tucker claims at least 37 of the 303 plants would have grown in the region during the 15th and 16th century and believes the text is, therefore, written in the Aztec language of Nahuatl.

It's one of the world's most mysterious books, a centuries-old manuscript written in an unknown or coded language that no one has cracked. Now after a ten-year quest for access, Siloe, a small publishing house has secured the right to clone the document

THE LOST LANGUAGE OF NAHUATL

Nahuatl originated during the 7th century. It was the spoken predominantly by the Aztecs.

Following the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the 16th century, the alphabet was replaced with Latin.

Nahuatl became a literary language, used in poetry and passages, similar to the Voynich manuscript.

Varieties of Nahuatl are still spoken by approximately 1.5 million Nahua people in Central Mexico.



The writing is so bizarre, sceptics have stated the book is a hoax or that the writing is nonsense.

The Voynich manuscript was discovered in an Italian monastery in 1912 by book dealer Wilfred Voynich.

Carbon dating suggests the manuscript was created between approximately 1404 and 1438, during the Italian Renaissance.

The 240 pages of the book are made from a type of parchment produced using calf skin, known as vellum, and are decorated with illustrations, diagrams and a mysterious text written from left to right.

Examples include the illustration of the Ipomoea murucoides, top left, taken from the Mexican Codex Cruz-Badianus which has an identical style to the Ipomoea arborescens in the manuscript, bottom left. A Voynich illustration of a cactus pad or fruit, right, is shown near the name ‘nashtli’, which Dr. Tucker and Talbert claim is a variant of the word ‘nochtil’ - the Nahuatl name for the fruit of the prickly pear



Scholars have spent their lives puzzling over the Voynich manuscript, whose intriguing mix of elegant writing and drawings of strange plants and naked women has some believing it holds magical powers

The Voynich manuscript, pictured, was discovered in an Italian monastery in 1912 by book dealer Wilfred Voynich. Carbon dating suggests it was created between 1404 and 1438. The 240 pages of the book are made from a type of parchment produced using calf skin, known as vellum

Due to its mysterious nature, the text has been studied by cryptographers around the world, yet no-one has succeeded in deciphering the reams of written passages.

Dr. Arthur Tucker from Delaware University took a different approach, and instead, studied the plants depicted throughout the book.

He discovered similarities between specific plants in the manuscript and illustrations of plants he had spotted in his collection of 16th century Mexican records.

THE MYSTERY AND SCEPTICISM SURROUNDING THE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT The Voynich manuscript was discovered in an Italian monastery in 1912 by book dealer Wilfred Voynich. Carbon dating suggests the manuscript was created in the early 15th century, between approximately 1404 and 1438, during the Italian Renaissance. The 240 pages of the book are made from a type of parchment produced using calf skin, known as vellum.

Each page is decorated with illustrations, diagrams and a mysterious text written from left to right. Due to its mysterious nature, the text has been studied by cryptographers around the world, yet no-one has succeeded in deciphering the reams of written passages. This has led to many people claim the book is hoax, or that the writing is nonsense. Due to the manuscript’s discovery in Italy, many researchers believe the book to have originated in Europe, however, the latest research from Dr. Tucker suggests it may have been written by the Aztecs in what is now modern-day Mexico.



For example, Dr. Tucker and fellow researcher Rexford Talbert said one plant in the book bears a resemblance to the picture of a soap plant (xiuhamolli) seen in a Mexican codex from 1552.



While another example includes the illustration of the Ipomoea murucoides, taken from the Mexican Codex Cruz-Badianus, which has an identical style to the Ipomoea arborescens in the manuscript.



In total, the researchers linked 37 of the 303 plants in the manuscript to illustrations in ancient Mexican books covering botany across Texas, California and Nicaragua.

Due to its mysterious nature, the text and diagrams in the manuscript, pictured, have been studied by cryptographers around the world, yet no-one has succeeded in deciphering the reams of written passages. This has led to many people claim the book is hoax, or that the writing is nonsense

Nahuatl, pictured here written in the Florentine Codex, originated in Central Mexico during the 7th century. It was spoken predominantly by the Aztecs

If the text is written in the language of Nahuatl, the botanists claim they can find the name of the plants in the manuscript and may be able to use these to form a basic code from which to crack the rest of the text.

For example, a Voynich illustration of a cactus pad or fruit is shown near the name ‘nashtli’, which Tucker and Talbert claim is a variant of the word ‘nochtil’ - the Nahuatl name for the fruit of the prickly pear.



Nahuatl originated in Central Mexico during the 7th century. It was the spoken predominantly by the Aztecs.



Following the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the 16th century, the alphabet was replaced with Latin.



Nahuatl became a literary language, used in poetry and passages, similar to the Voynich manuscript.



Varieties of Nahuatl are still spoken by approximately 1.5 million Nahua people in Central Mexico.