There are several frogguy transliteration systems, of increasing of complexity, and each more complex system is downward compatible with the simpler one. They really form a continuum, but you can consider if you like, that there are four separate frogguy systems.
All systems have the same principles in common:
The most basic frogguy, call it frogguy-0, is probably the one you are familiar with. It has all the necessary pieces to represent everything that can be represented in Currier's system and a little bit more. It lacks symbols for rare characters, such as the famous "picnic table". It uses 3 digits [4 8 9], 12 letters [a c g i j l o p q s t v] and the apostrophe ['].
Frogguy-1 has additional symbols for those rare characters: the "picnic table" [n], the "inverted y" [y], the "squashed z" [z], the "circumflex" (or, if you prefer, "Chinese hat", or "inverted hacek", or "tent": [^]), the "circumflex in a corner" [k].
Frogguy-2 has parts for representing the "weirdoes" first identified and reported by Jim Reeds.
Frogguy-3 supports font file F3W00.FNT, which contains additional letters or parts for purely aesthetic purposes.
Now I am terribly lazy, and I object to such violent exercises as weight-lifting (even a pen) and long-distance running (even on paper). Violent mental exercises, such as *remembering* the 36 symbols of Currier's system, have my greying grey cells protest in unison: "you've already stuffed us full of the Cyrillic alphabet, then Hebrew, then Arabic, then all those Chinese characters, you stuff us with Balinese letters every time you go there, which we hurry to forget as soon as you are back, and now *THIS*!"
So, it was shortly before Christmas 1991, I invented this system in which the very symbols of the transcription vaguely *look* like the letters of the Voynich MS. From instance:
Currier's: ZORBSOR OBSOR ZOR FS9 became: c'to2q;cto2 oq;cto2 c'to2 lpct9Then I designed a 16x8 bitmap font in which all those letters were distorted a bit, just enough to make them into very Voynich-like squiggles, while leaving them legible as Roman letters. I forgot how this system came to be called "frogguy".
The discovery of "weirdoes", rare and sometimes not-so-rare Voynich letters that were not accounted for in Currier forced me to tinker with this "proto-frogguy" and to use and distort so many more Roman letters that an English text became just about illegible when displayed in Voynich font. Since the two fonts had become mutually unintelligible, I wrote a WYSIWYG text editor for PCs (VOYEDIT, I think it's still in our archives) which could handle both at once. And I worked at making the Voynich fonts look even more like Voynich.
Fonts and transcription system were completed on Sunday, 26 July 1992, and I have not been able to improve significantly on them since.
Note. The capitalization scheme is only there to make transliterations look very much more Voynich-like when viewed with the F3W00.FNT fonts file loaded. You may dispense with it.
Currier Frogguy Comment A a C c O o E x Voynich letter looks like an "x" closed at the top 4 4 8 8 9 9 R 2 looks like s "2" standing on tiptoe 2 s looks like the mirror-image of an "s" I i D v looks like a "v" with a flourish 7 & This rare letter looks likes the mirror-image of an ampersand. I have redesigned this letter to look like what it really looks like: <8> with its first stroke i-like instead of c-like.
g the loop and tail that make the right half of Currier's <6> t right half of Currier's <S> and <Z>, which does look like "t" of some medieval scripts. q left half of Currier's <P>, which looks like a "q" standing on the base line l left half of Currier's <F>, same as [q], but without a loop. Looks like an "l". p right half of Currier's <F> and <P>, which looks like a capital "P" j right half of Currier's <B> and <V>. The dot of the "j" represents the loop, the rest the curve which sweeps down, then left, to cross the leg of the left part of the gallows to end up in a hook (a open "noose") on its left side.
Currier Frogguy N iv <N> = <I> followed by <D> M iiv <M> = <I> followed by <N> 3 iiiv <3> = <I> followed by <M> J ig <J> = <I> fused at top to [g] stroke K iig <K> = <I> followed by <J> L iiig <L> = <I> followed by <K> 5 iiiig <5> = <I> followed by <L> G ix <G> = <I> linked to following <E> H iix <H> = <I> followed by <G> 1 iiix <1> = <I> followed by <H> T i2 <T> = <I> followed by <2> U ii2 <U> = <I> followed by <T> 0 iii2 <0> = <I> followed by <U> 6 cg <6> = <C> fused at top to [g] stroke S ct Z c't [ct] with a plume ['] F lp Straight gallows leg [l] and its right leg [p] X clpt The same, intruding into a Currier <S>, which is [ct] P qp Gallows leg with a loop [q] and its right leg [p] Q cqpt The same, intruding into <S> V lj Straight gallows leg [l] with noose dangling [j]. Y cljt The same, intruding into <S>. B qj Gallows leg with with loop [q] and dangling noose [j]. W cqjt The same, intruding into <S>.
Jim's ID F3W X49 ^ the "Chinese hat". Looks like an oversize circumflex resting on the base line X51 y looks like a mirror-image of y X72 z looks like a squashed-out z X48 n The picnic table. The letter n looks a bit like a table, so there. X50 k The "Chinese hat in a corner". Mnemonics: underline the k, or link the heel of its straight leg on the left to the heel of its bent leg on the right.
- (hyphen) a horizontal connecting line. ' (apostrophe) a plume, like that in Currier's <Z>, or Jim's weirdoes X11, X14, X15, X35 etc. , (comma) a flourish, sweeping down, like the tail of <9>, which I have seen a few times in Petersen (with 'sic' in the margin), Jim's X107. " a plume on top of a connecting line. Mnemonics: on many keyboards " is obtained by pressing shift and ', so that it is an apostrophe "capitalized", hence, according to the capitalization rule, with a connecting line. + a plume cutting through a connecting line, such as you often find in Currier's <Z>. Mnemonics: a plus sign is made of a line (plume) cutting a horizontal line. ) to accomodate Jim's X13 and X16. This represents a flourish connected at the base line to a letter to the left, and curling back up. If I were to take my analytic madness to extremes, my [v], Currier's <D>, would become [i)] ` Jim's X104, which enters as an element of X43 and X46. Always connects to the right. It is a hook, like this: (__ ^ connected there to the top of the next letter.
e This is [c] connected to the letter on the right. Mnemonics: "e" is a "c" with a stroke inside. Pull the stroke out, use it to connect to the next letter. d This is [l] when followed by [j]. Mnemonics: the "belly" of "d" is the final swish of the noose [j], which ends on the left of the gallows' leg. f This is [q] when followed by [j]. Mnemonics: imagine the mirror-image of "f".
Currier Frogguy S et Basic Frogguy: [ct] Z e't Basic Frogguy: [c't] St when the plume is right on top and connects so cleanly that the left half of this letter looks strikingly like Currier <2>, Frogguy [s] e"t when the plume lies in-between e+t when the plume cuts through the connecting line et' when the plume is on top the [t] (weirdo X26 of Jim's list, which happens not infrequently at all). Mind you, I think myself that all that is nit-picking, but who knows? X eLPt <F> intruding, hence capitalized, into <S>, which is [et]. Basic frogguy: [clpt] Q eQPt <P> intruding into <S>. Basic frogguy: [cqpt] V dj Straight gallows leg with noose end [d] and on its right side the dangling noose [j]. Basic frogguy: [lj] Y eDJt <V> intruding into <S>, hence capitalized. Basic frogguy: [cljt] B fj Gallows leg with loop and noose end [f] and on its right side the dangling noose [j]. Basic frogguy: [qj] W eFJt The same intruding into <S>, hence capitalized. Basic frogguy: [cqjt]
Jim's ID F3W X1 eet [c] connected to [c], connected to [c], connected to [t]. X2 eqp [c] connected to [qp] not intruding X3 eQPo [c] connected to [o], with [qp] intruding X4 eQP9 [c] connected to [9], with [qp] intruding X5 eLP9 [c] connected to [9], with [lp] intruding X6 e9 [c] connected to [9] X7 eo [c] connected to [o] X8 e [c] connected to something X9 Ot [o] connected to [t] X10 It [i] connected to [t] X11 4-o' [4] connected (-) to [o] with a plume (') on top. Note: I think we could dispense with the hyphen. The infamous [4] occurs almost always followed by [o] and is always lightly connected to it. X12 e'o [c] with plume, connected to [o] So if the plume is placed so that you think that the left part is really <2> (s) connected. X13 c) [c] with a flourish curling up X14 9' [9] with plume on top X15 a' [a] with plume on top X16 a) [a] with a flourish curling up X17 ADJa [a] connected to [a] with intruding [dj] Basic frogguy: [Alja] X18 IDJt [i] connected to [t] with intruding [dj] Basic frogguy: [iljt] X19 49 I do not think this is a weirdo at all, it's just that <4> followed by <9>. If the connect does worry you, write [4-9] X20 e'et or Set [c] with plume, or [s], connected to [c], connected to [t] X21 e'eFJt or SeFJt ditto, with intruding [fj] Basic frogguy: [Scqjt] or [c-cqjt] X22 eFJet' Well, I think you've got the idea, so I or eFJes will dispense with explaining the obvious and skip the Basic Frogguy equivalent. X23 eDJet X24 eQPAt X25 eLPo X26 et' or es X27 e'a or Sa X28 eLPo X29 e'9 or S9 X30 iQPt X31 iLPt X33 9LPet Since it is capitalized (LP), the gallows must be intruding between two flanking connected letters, so we really don't have to write out that [9] is connected. But if you really insist, then: [9-LPet]. X34 4DJa Ditto, and [4] normally connects, too. X35 49' or 4"9 depending on where the plume precisely is. X36 4DJo X37 4OPt X38 O't X39 O'9 X40 OQP9 X41 OQPo X42 ODJt X43 `l X104 connected to what looks like a gallows straight left leg (approximate) X44 `p X104 jerkily connected to what looks like a gallows right leg (approximate) X45 I have seen a few of those and thought they were misshapen <8>. It could be approximated by [c] connected to a gallows right leg, i.e. [ep] X46 `lo X43 combined with [o] X47 Cat got my tongue there X48 n the picnic table as mentioned above X49 ^ X50 k as mentioned X51 y mirror-image of "y", as mentioned X52 I have nothing to propose for this. I suspect it is one of the components Jim used in designing the Postscript fonts. X53 k^ X54 I have nothing to offer for that weirdo X55 ea obviously X56 eLP X57 Idj X58 Ilp X59 Ifj X60 e something. I'd like to spot on of those in the VMS before I propose anything. X61 4qp X62 4lp X63 Oqp X64 O' X66 ex X67 to X69 are cases where the left and right halves of a gallows are separated by one or more letters. Since left and right halves are treated as separate letters in the Frogguy system and are known to be always connected, no problem arises other than linking them in your mind's eye when you see them on the screen. X71 Looks like a bit of disconnected gallows, as in X67 to X69. X72 z X73 QPt a Postscript component, I suppose X74 e' or S ditto X75 4c X76 eFJ X78 4' I have only seen it followed by [o]. An element of X11? X79 eLPet X80 I'm not sure what this is. I think [c] and a misshapen [x] X81 e't or St That is Currier's <Z>! A Postscript glitch? X82 eDJeS X83 I [i] connected, an elementary stroke X84 e" [c] connected, with connected plume to its right, a component X86 SLPo But the gallows are superscripted, not intruding, so that is only an approximation X87 eqp X88 elp X89 efj X90 edj X91 Aa [a] connected, hence capitalized, to [a] X94 4o I don't think this is any different from the infamously common sequence X95 O" [o] connected to plume connected to... X96 O"t X97 O"9 X98 `FJo X99 ox another case of misshapen [x] I think unless it is [og] with the tail end missing? X100 OLLJt only an approximation of this monster X101 o' [o] with a plume on top X012 O [o] connected to something on its right X103 o this is obviously [o] when something on its left connects to it. X104 ` One of the parts of rarer characters X105 - Ditto X108 ) Ditto X110 eFJet