Can a new cipher help to explain the mysterious Voynich Manuscript?

Created in the early 15th century, and often called the world’s most mysterious manuscript, the Voynich Manuscript bears unusual illustrations and illegible writing in a unique script. 

When statistically analysed, “Voynichese”—as the script is known—reflects some characteristics of a typical language, but in other ways, behaves strangely. This has led experts to argue that its text could be an unknown or artificial language, gibberish, or a cipher.

Now, the science journalist Michael A. Greshko has developed an encoding method that replicates some of the unusual features of “Voynichese”. He has called this the Naibbe cipher, after a card game known in Italy in 1377.

“This encoding method leads to a decipherable secret message consisting of ‘words’ whose internal structures, lengths, and frequencies replicate what is observed within portions of the Voynich Manuscript,” says Greshko, the author of a research paper published in the journal Cryptologia.