Why don't we say "throve" and "thriven" ?

Question

We say

drive drove driven
give gave given
take took taken
write wrote written
break broke broken
eat ate eaten
shrive shrove shriven
smite smote smitten

We also refer to "cloven-hoofed" animals such as goats.

Does it sound strange to you if I say "My little boy THROVE on a healthy diet"? or "I have THRIVEN since I gave up smoking"?

Well, SOMEONE gave me a star!!

Answer 1

Occasionally you will find a dictionary that allows "throve", and some have used it, precisely by analogy with the patterns you list.

But here is one KEY difference between "thrive" and every other word on your list. All the rest are OLD English words (pre-900), and have maintained there Old English verb patters. But "thrive" only came into the language in MIDDLE English (ca. 1200). This "strong verb" pattern was no longer "active" in Middle English.

In other words, though the old forms were retained for familiar words, no NEW forms were created on this pattern. Rather, in this period of the language, verbs shifted to our modern "regular" verb pattern. That's how "thrive" was treated.

(Note- it didn't necessarily matter whether these new words were sometimes borrowed from Germanic languages in which such patterning was found. It's mainly about when the language was borrowed into ENGLISH.)

Just look up all your words in the search box at dictionary.com and you'll see that all but "thrive" are listed as originating "before 900".
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(Something similar happened with noun forms in Middle English. A number of OLD English patterns for creating various noun forms were left alone for a number COMMON nouns -- man/men, mouse/mice. But MOST nouns shifted to the new regular way of forming plurals, by simply adding an s. [Even MOST of the Old English forms gave way, and NEW words never had those old patterns.])

Answer 2

My little boy thrives on a healthy diet.
I have thrived since I gave up smoking.
I think these are the correct things to say? Why do Americans who should be well educated by now, with all their money and advisers, still say SPIT instead of SPAT. Judge Judy is always saying SO YOU ARE SAYING HE SPIT AT YOU, ARE YOU? Cos every week in her show someone is always complaining that they have been SPIT ON!! I am positive I have heard Oprah say this too. And I am sure I heard Dr Phil say it too, but stumble over it as if he wasn't sure what the right word was.
I have friend who says I GOT HOME AT 1 A.M. IN THE MORNING and it irritates me.

Answer 3

I must smoke crack too because I think of things like this all the time. Well, actually, I say the word incorrectly (because it makes sense in my head) and my husband corrects me.

I always thought the past tense of sweat should be 'swat'. (Other similar words would be bet and bat.)

Answer 4

Because English is assembled from a hodgepodge of other linguistic ancestors and is full of grammatical nonsense.
: )

Answer 5

Hmmmmmm...you have WAY to much idle time on your hands...lol ;-}

Answer 6

lol you just made me crack up lol!