Why is "slew" the past tense of "slay" ?

[RSDonovan]

...I will SLAY him
...I SLEW him
...I have SLAIN him

I can't think of any other verb that follows this pattern. Is it a complete isolate, and if so does anyone know the derivation?

Ta

[Maggoty]

cheers mike :-)

i must stop watching so much US telly x

[ichkeria]

Quizmonkey is right and I am puzzled by this distinction in Chambers (which, incidentally I think is a highly overrated dictionary) - if you want examples of intransitive uses of "slay" ask them! :- )

"He has slayed" though is never right. "Slain" is the past participle, not the past tense.

[mike11111]

I agree that QM has quoted correctly. I have checked. What puzzles me is that after giving slew as the only pat for the vi it then goes on to give only transitive definitions of the verb. I realise I shoud ask Chambers, but life's too short and I thought that someone on here could come up with an example which has obviously escaped me.

[ichkeria]

I'd imagine that an example might be:

"He went around slaying" or "he slayed" i.e. in a general sense with no object. But I can't see why that should have a different form.
Chambers is sometimes a very quirky dictionary.

[mike11111]

But those are not intransitive, the direct object is merely unstated. You might be right about Chambers, but at the moment it is the Holy Bible for crossword solvers.

[ichkeria]

In my examples there is no object, therefore the sense is intransitive:
"He was a slayer - he slayed - slaying was his business" - it seems odd because it's rarely if ever used like that. I think we really would need to ask Chambers for an explanation.

[mike11111]

Have to disagree with you; even though you do not state the object, you cannot slay nothing. This is my point. It's like saying' "He went around killing". Even though you do not say what he kills it is still a transitive verb.

[ichkeria]

I'm sorry but you are wrong. "He went around killing" is an intransitive use of the verb to kill.
It's no different from
"He was asked to sing at parties" (intransitive)
"He was to sing a song" (transitive)
"He sang to his mother" (intransitive)
"Arms and the man I sing" (intransitive)
Any verb without a direct object is intransitive.

None of which explains the mystery of why Chambers thinks "slayed" and "slew" make a difference in that way.

[mike11111]

"Arms and the man I sing" (intransitive)

You really need a few lessons in grammatical terminology. The direct object of the verb "to sing" in your example, is "Arms and the man", or, "Arma virumque cano.." to quote the original.

[FredPuli43]

The Shorter Oxford gives it as both transitive and intransitive. Intransitive: 'Cause (especially violent death) commit murder [ Now literary or archaic, except in North America]'
It also gives ' Slay, past tense 'slew',(non-standard 'slayed'), past participle 'slain'

[ichkeria]

Sorry the last one was transitive (doh! - that'll treat me to quote Latin poets!)

The other examples stand though. Just about any verb can be used intransitively, some can never reasonably be used transitively though.

[ichkeria]

"The Shorter Oxford gives it as both transitive and intransitive. "

Yes - like I say, most verbs can be used without a direct object, although in a lot of cases only rarely