Computer program deciphers a dead language that mystified linguists

Computer program deciphers a dead language that mystified linguists

Ugaritic itself is an awesomely fascinating language. Spoken 3,500 years ago in the city of Ugarit, located in modern Syria, the language is a Semitic relative of Hebrew, although its alphabet closely resembles the cuneiform used in ancient Sumeria. The surviving Ugaritic texts tell the stories of a Canaanite religion that is similar but not identical to that recorded in the Old Testament, providing Bible scholars a unique opportunity to examine how the Bible and ancient Israelite culture developed in relation to its neighbors.

m.io9.com...

Fascinating, thank you!
I have always felt like there is so much still to learn from ancient cultures, particularly the Sumerians and I can't help but think there are those that wish to keep some history from us, for whatever reasons, probably to keep us in line, but I hope more deciphering takes place now with this new modality.
It seems a good time to rewrite some/much of our history. The last 5 years have brought numerous discoveries of ancient civilizations and surely there is some useful insight within the discoveries.

Peace

[edit on 12-7-2010 by speculativeoptimist]

Cool find.
I admit, though, when I saw the title, I was hoping it was the written language of Easter Island that has yet to be deciphered.
Still neat though.

That is maybe the most fascinating post of the week for me!

thanks! S&f

A very productive day indeed (4 new threads, although 2 of them not that original!)

Keep up the good work mate, I think we are gaining a new "digger".

Is there any additional info on this? Like, is there any text that was "translated" to see what it says? Give us something more to drool over!

reply to post by Maegnas


Yeah, I think some of the stuff I posted might have been posted before, I will used the search function more next time. Whoops. lol.

reply to post by Chamberf=6


or the Voynich manuscript - that was my hope!

but this is still a good find!

to the OP.

cool info here... it is intersting to see such old language being de-sypherd

Hey man, great thread and thanks a lot for it. Personally I was hoping of a translation of/from the Vynich manuscript, but oh well - it's been covered on here before.

www.world-mysteries.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by GoodLuckCharm
reply to post by Maegnas

 

Yeah, I think some of the stuff I posted might have been posted before, I will used the search function more next time. Whoops. lol.

I wouldn't worry too much about that, some things bear repeating. Depending on how old the articles are some things can do with a breath of fresh air and there's always things people miss. Worth using the search for referencing though.

Thanks again.

reply to post by GoodLuckCharm


A truly fascinating story and a nice that truly will shed light on history.

Amazing find Kind of curious about the language of Easter Island now....

The Voynich manuscript couldn't be hacked by a computer just yet. The problem with it isn't just a "failure to find the right key to the puzzle", but that it actually just doesn't fit with any conceivable cipher. Seeing as humans write the algorithms to these computers, there'd be no way for the computer to crack the code (unless every cryptologist in history who tried to tackle the Voynich just missed some stupid thing).

Brute force only works when you know the basic concept, or a set from which the concept can be pulled. The Ugaritic text, for example, was known to be either phoneme-based or hieroglyphic-based. The Voynich might be anything; some people even thought the characters were elaborate strings of very small characters.

great thread!

as for those who want the Vonych (sp?) deciphered, thats just some nonsense. anyone who believes in spirits should talk to it's author and ask him "why"?

But! these are my type of threads! now lets push the owners to start digging at Oak Island!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and anyone with any info there please PM me. er...U2U me. whatever