Evidence · Voynich Manuscript

Without the layout layer, topics follow scribe less

With the line-edge spellings normalised, page topics follow Currier language and scribe less (NMI 0.53 to 0.43 and 0.54 to 0.42, five seeds, sd up to 0.08) and the illustrated section as much as before (0.37 to 0.36); the A-B axis of the vocabulary does not move (0.86). Part of what topic models read as language and scribe is how line edges are written.

SuggestiveObservationExploratory0

How it was found 2 runs

Layout-layer rules and normaliser (minimal line-edge alternations learned on half E; rewrite to the inside form; interior-only text): inductive battery (13 methods) on half C: raw, normalised, interior

Method Layout-layer rules and normaliser (minimal line-edge alternations learned on half E; rewrite to the inside form; interior-only text) · Session 10

28 Oct

Inductive battery (13 methods) on half C: raw, normalised, interiortopics.nmi_section: 0.302 / 0.402 / 0.493; topics.nmi_lang: 0.587 / 0.548 / 0.466; stylometry.nmi_section: 0.327 / 0.556 / 0.615; seriation.axis1_vs_langB: 0.86 / 0.861 / 0.86; paradigms.dependence: 0.361 / 0.367 / 0.368; layout.mi_line_position_first: 0.1042 / 0.029 / 0.0164Exploratory

ZL3b transcription Exploration split Line-edge rules learned on half E (46 minimal alternations at paragraph start, line start and line end)Latin genre texts

Notes from the run

data/analysis/inductive/out/battery_C.csv, battery_C_layout.csv, battery_C_interior.csv

Topic model (LDA) of pages, k by held-out perplexity and fixed k=10: topic NMI with section / Currier language / scribe, half C, mean of…

Method Topic model (LDA) of pages, k by held-out perplexity and fixed k=10 · Session 10

28 Oct

Topic NMI with section / Currier language / scribe, half C, mean of five seedsraw 0.37 / 0.53 / 0.54; normalised 0.36 / 0.43 / 0.42Exploratory

ZL3b transcription Exploration split Line-edge rules learned on half E (46 minimal alternations at paragraph start, line start and line end)

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). Without the layout layer, topics follow scribe less [Evidence EVD0DCC13TM3WQS]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DCC13TM3WQS

@misc{mysteriesdept_evd0dcc13tm3wqs,
  title     = {Without the layout layer, topics follow scribe less},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Evidence, catalog key EVD0DCC13TM3WQS},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DCC13TM3WQS}
}