Etymology

The st. VI v. < PGmc *slaxan- usually comes down to OE as slēan (with breaking before /x/); cp. Go slahan, OFris slā, OS, OHG slahan. ME forms with spellings indicating a long monophthong < OE ā may be explained straightforwardly as continuing the recorded OE (Nhb) by-form slā (on which see Campbell §145n.2, Hogg §5.38; Dance 2003: 85–6, 401), but some authorities also suggest some input from the Scand cognate as in OIcel slá (so Bj., OED; MED offers a ‘cp.’ to ON).

PGmc Ancestor

*slaxan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

slá ‘to smite, strike (etc.)’
(ONP slá (2) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far slá(a), Icel slá, Norw, Sw, Dan slå

OE Cognate

slēan ‘to strike, beat (etc.)’

Phonological and morphological markers

[lack of breaking of OE root vowel] (possibly diagnostic)

Summary category

CC2c

Attestation

The relevant variants are predominantly Northern and Eastern in ME.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 1766, 2566, 2634 etc.

MED slēn (v.), OED slay (v.1), Bj. 102, de Vries slá (2), Mag. slá (3), Seebold slah-a-, Orel *slaxanan, Kroonen *slahan-, AEW slēan

Bibliography