A Morpho-Zonal Model of the Voynich Manuscript: Decoding Line-End Anomalies as Guild Numeronyms and Scriptorium Formularies

The Voynich Manuscript (Yale, Beinecke MS 408) remains the most enigmatic crypto-linguistic puzzle in world history. For decades, academic research has analyzed the text as a linear, syntactic string of characters, consistently reaching a dead end due to the lack of standard grammatical structures. This paper breaks with the established paradigm. We present a morpho-zonal formulary model based on the systematic investigation of asymmetric scribal competence. By contextualizing the document within an isolated, multigenerational Milanese court or family pharmacy of the early Renaissance (C14: 1404–1438), the statistical monotony of Scribe A ("Language A") is exposed as a mechanical, tabular application of a standardized cryptographic formulary. For the first time, we mathematically demonstrate that:1. The text lacks fluid syntax and instead follows a topographical logic where the visual zone of the illustration (e.g., blossom vs. root) determines the active word-box.2. The long-mysterious "line-end anomaly" does not contain linguistic suffixes but rather represents purely numerical numeronyms (combinations of weights/measures and unit counts) aligned with the official standards of the Milanese Apothecary Guild.3. Lexical outliers (Hapax legomena) at the boundaries of illustrations represent direct technical dictations by the master (Scribe B) during morphological boundary crises. This model liberates the text from classical syntax matrices, providing a pragmatic decoding filter that reduces the manuscript's cryptographic complexity by approximately 70%, paving the way for complete decipherment based on the Old Lombard Volgare. Note: This preprint has been simultaneously deposited to OSF under Priority ID: VMS-MILAN-2026-08-09.