[rdlw]

Interesting. I was using ChatGPT to try to come up with a possible reconstruction of the Ketef Hinnom scrolls (I don't know Ancient Hebrew at all), with some mixed results. I had to prompt it with things like "What do you think that 'YHWH' bit could mean?", and then it sort of caught on. Maybe I'll see if Claude can do better.

Your description of Old English is a bit odd. It's certainly very different from modern English, but it's its direct ancestor and both languages are Germanic.

[nestorD]

It is a direct ancestor but I find that what most people picture when they hear Old English (and have no prior knowledge of it) is something closer to Middle English, which is somewhat redeable by modern English speakers, rather than something like `Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum, monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas.` [0]

[0]: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43521/beowulf-old-eng...