28/02/2021

Louvois' Ciphers in the Archives (1688-1713)

About dozen ciphers from Louis XIV's time gathered from various sources have been listed in "French Ciphers during the Reign of Louis XIV". I added another dozen to the list from BnF fr. 6204, of which I was made aware of by Norbert Biermann's paper (2020). They appear to be Louvois' ciphers (at least some are annotated as such), characterized in that not only syllables and words/names but also letters of the alphabet are mixed in random arrangement.
Now that the list has more than twenty ciphers, I introduced designation of ciphers such as "DE=34/42/97." (The cipher of this example enciphers "de" into 34 or 42 or 97.) This nomenclature will facilitate identifying a new cipher with those already on the list. I have employed similar schemes for American ciphers (e.g., here). (I think I've seen other people use this scheme, but I do not remember specific instances now.)

09/02/2021

Two-Part Code between Le Tellier and Colbert (1650)

I added two ciphers used between Le Tellier and Colbert in "Ciphers Early in the Reign of Louis XIV". This is something more than a routine addition, because this shows that the same corresondents used one-part code in November 1650 and two-part code in December 1650. Is this the first two-part code in mainstream French ciphers? Apart from sporadic examples (Duke of Nevers, Edward Stafford), the first two-part code known to me has been Louvois' code (1676). Considering that Louvois was son of Le Tellier, it is probable that he learned of two-part code from his father. It is often said that two-part code was invented by the codebreaker Rossignol. It is wondered whether Le Tellier learned of it from Rossignol or he devised it himself or learned of it from any other source.

02/02/2021

Religious Grandmother's Abbreviation Cipher Deciphered on the Web

Back in 2014, a certain JannaK posted what looks like an enciphered message wirtten on an index card by Grandmother (1927-1996), who lived in Minnesota. It begins with:
PDGNHBOBVPNSNHANAOENCNANHPNCPND,NUOCP
NNPNAPNMSMDKBMLPOWP,NAP,]NEENTGBTMLS
HHSSSTMALHFFTMOFPANSTP,NIOOIPNTPNROA
NTRSANTOTTAPOD,PLUADONNOANPBOOLL,PKUA
SASIMAB,PAGA,]PMOMTAVMAJAMMSSSLLAB
....

Thirteen minutes later, harperpitt pointed out that the last AAA on the front side may be "Amen, Amen, Amen." Then, TYAGF appearing earlier may be "Thank you Almighty God for..."
The back side begins with OFWAIHHB, which jessamyn pointed out is used as user names by many people and should be something well-known. Then, harperpitt came up with an idea that OFWAIHHBTN is "Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name." This led to revealing the meaning of many phrases. The very frequent PST turned out to be "Please see that ...."
This is not a cipher in the usual sense, but initialism. I didn't know such a system is used for a text of some length until I read Chapter 13 of Elonka Dunin and Klauss Schmeh's book Codebreaking (see another post), where the system is called "abbreviation cipher".

References:
Decoding cancer-addled ramblings
"おばあちゃんが最期に残し20年間も未解決だった謎の暗号がネットの集合知によって爆速で解明へ"