The Voynich Code - The World's Most Mysterious Manuscript on Apple TV: Has the Voynich manuscript been decoded yet?

The Voynich Code - The World's Most Mysterious Manuscript, a 2010 documentary on Apple TV+, explores the Voynich Manuscript in detail. The official synopsis of this 50-minute historical run as per Apple TV reads:

"It is the world's most mysterious manuscript. A book, written by an unknown author, Mustrated with pictures that are as bizarre as they are puzzling - and written in a language that even the best cryptographers have been unable to decode."

The Voynich Manuscript, a mystery, as an ancient textbook, has been the subject and inspired multiple TV shows, documentaries, and YouTube videos. However, this textbook has not been decoded to date despite numerous attempts from linguists and historians.

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What is the Voynich Manuscript?

As featured in The Voynich Code - The World's Most Mysterious Manuscript on Apple TV+, the Voynich Manuscript is considered one of the top mysteries ever. This ancient book, known officially as Beinecke MS 408, is the most widely debated manuscript in history.

The Voynich Manuscript contains images of strange vegetation, women bathing, and numerous signs and symbols. It also includes writings in a mystery language and is thought to be medieval.

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Origins of the Voynich Manuscript and an attempt to decode it

The Voynich text (Image via The Why Files/Youtube)

The Voynich Manuscript was passed down to Wilfred M, Voynich, who in 1912 bought this book from the College of Jesuits and tried to decode it for decades, however, he failed. After Ethel Voynich died, the book was passed down to Anne Nill.

This 240-page book, filled with enigmatic and unintelligible writing, features cosmic charts, weird imagery, and drawings of enigmatic flora, among other things. The real owner/writer of the book remains unknown, as shown in The Voynich Code - The World's Most Mysterious Manuscript.

The text is originally believed to be a medical text and a work of an ancient alchemist. It is written on vellum, and its origins are speculated to be in Italy. The Voynich Manuscript is currently kept in the archives of Yale University, where linguists, cryptographers, and scholars to date try to decode it.

While many have made claims of decoding parts of this manuscript, none of the claims seem valid or are backed up by proper evidence and reasoning.

As per a report by The Art Newspaper, German Egyptologist Rainer Hannig claimed to have solved the Voynich mystery similar to many others. He believed the language of the manuscript to be in Hebrew, similar to others before him who tried to decode the manuscript.

Hannig stated:

"Countless decipherment attempts were made. A lot of languages were proposed, such as Latin, Czech, or amongst others Nahuatl just to name a few... The word structure leaves only one possible explanation: the manuscript was not composed in an Indo-European language."

He further added:

"The actual translation of the Voynich-book will need a couple of years work, even if specialists in Hebrew language, who are well versed in medieval Hebrew and the terminology of botanical and medical texts, take over the analysis..."

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The Voynich Manuscript remains a mystery

Unsolved Mysteries: A page from the Voynich text (Image via The Why Files/Youtube)

As shown in The Voynich Code - The World's Most Mysterious Manuscript, the plants in the Voynich manuscript are odd. Some of the letters are in Latin script, some are numerals, and others are simply symbols. The entire book can be written in a created tongue, which is why the language is unknown to this day, as many have theorized throughout history.

However, many scholars, linguists, and historians to date have claimed the Voynich text to be a hoax, written in gibberish, and therefore has no definite meaning. The Voynich mystery therefore lives on, until someone breaks down the cipher and cracks this mystery.

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