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Is the Király–Tokai decipherment correct?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·4 answers·0·0 following
Most likely: the codicology, numerals and some passages are right, but the word-level readings are over-fitted and much of…Ahead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

Where it stands

Four answers have been proposed. The codicology, numerals and some passages are right, but the word-level readings are over-fitted and much of… leads, with evidence 1 for: partly supported by its tests. Three are still possible. Of the one narrower question under it, none is answered yet.

Why it matters

It is the only reading that has produced checkable passages, but its dictionary and grammar remain unpublished and the language is unidentified, so it has not been independently replicated⁠[1]⁠[2].

Answers 4

Evidence: 1 for
Most likely
None of these.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible
Evidence: 2 for, 2 against
Still possible
Evidence: 1 against
Still possible

History

  1. Láng puts forward: the decipherment is wrong and the codex remains unread.
  2. Király & Tokai puts forward: the decipherment is substantially correct: the codex is a Christian narrative and prayer text of the late…
  3. Pelling puts forward: the codicology, numerals and some passages are right, but the word-level readings are over-fitted and much of…
  4. Pelling: the talents passage gives numbers that differ from Matthew 25, and the reversed-digit dating scheme is hard…Against: The decipherment is substantially correct: the codex is a Christian narrative and prayer text of the late…
  5. Király & Tokai: readings of the Lord's Prayer and the parable of the talents are coherent and match the pictures.For: The decipherment is substantially correct: the codex is a Christian narrative and prayer text of the late…
  6. Pelling: the most persuasive readings are of well-known texts whose content the pictures suggest.For: The codicology, numerals and some passages are right, but the word-level readings are over-fitted and much of…
  7. Király & Tokai: the dictionary and grammar are unpublished, so the reading cannot be replicated.Against: The decipherment is substantially correct: the codex is a Christian narrative and prayer text of the late…
  8. Király: the dating scheme is internally consistent and the colophon date of 1593 fits the 1530s paper and the ink…For: The decipherment is substantially correct: the codex is a Christian narrative and prayer text of the late…
  9. Király: the authors themselves report that the content, dating and iconography cohere across the book.Against: The decipherment is wrong and the codex remains unread.
  10. Asked on this site
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