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What are the five pencilled lines in the Rubaiyat?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·4 answers·0·0 following
Most likely: the letters are the initial letters of words of an English text, written as personal shorthandAhead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

Where it stands

Four answers have been proposed. The letters are the initial letters of words of an English text, written as personal shorthand. leads, with evidence 2 for, 1 against: supported by its tests. Three are still possible.

Why it matters

The code has been read as a spy cipher, a betting note and a mourner's shorthand. Statistical tests since 2009 have narrowed it a good deal⁠[1]⁠[2].

Answers 4

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

History

  1. The Advertiser (Adelaide) puts forward: the lines are an enciphered message (for example a one-time pad keyed on the Rubaiyat or a classical cipher).
  2. Turnbull & Bihari puts forward: the letters are the initial letters of words of an English text, written as personal shorthand.
  3. Turnbull & Bihari: first- and second-order Markov scores strongly favour English initial letters over other languages and over…For: The letters are the initial letters of words of an English text, written as personal shorthand.
  4. Turnbull & Bihari: playfair, Vigenère and one-time-pad readings with Bible and Rubaiyat keys failed.Against: The lines are an enciphered message (for example a one-time pad keyed on the Rubaiyat or a classical cipher).
  5. Turnbull & Bihari: the code's distribution differs from random letters written by 55 volunteers, sober or drunk.Against: The letters are meaningless, the product of a disturbed or intoxicated mind.
  6. Rehling: no matching passage has been found in more than 20,000 Project Gutenberg books.Against: The letters are the initial letters of words of an English text, written as personal shorthand.
  7. Rehling: an independent n-gram analysis also finds it almost certainly an English initialism.For: The letters are the initial letters of words of an English text, written as personal shorthand.
  8. Asked on this site
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