Why is "sew" pronounced as "so"?

Question

Why is sew (/səʊ/ or /sō/) pronounced similar to so rather than to few or sue?

Looking at its etymology,

Old English siwian "to stitch," earlier siowian, from Proto-Germanic *siwjanan (cf. Old Norse syja, Swedish sy, Old High German siuwan, Gothic siujan "to sew"), from PIE root *syu- "to bind, sew" (cf. Sanskrit sivyati "sews," sutram "thread, string;" Greek hymen "thin skin, membrane," hymnos "song;" Latin suere "to sew, sew together;" Old Church Slavonic sijo "to sew," sivu "seam;" Lettish siuviu, siuti "to sew," siuvikis "tailor;" Russian svec "tailor"). Related: Sewed; sewing. Sewing machine is attested from 1847.

siowian appears to be the only word which could have been pronounced with a /səʊ/. But the later spelling of siwian sounds unlikely to have been pronounced so.

Also, are there other similarly spelt words which have the same irregularity in pronunciation?

tchrist · Answer

The OED’s etymology entry notes that it is abnormal, but does not say how this came to be.

Etymology:  Com. Teut. and Indogermanic: OE. siwan, 
  siowan (usually, with change of conjugation, siwian, 
  siowian, seowian) = OFris. sîa (mod.Fris. dial. 
  siije), OHG. siuwen, ONor. sýja (Sw. sy, Da.
  sye), Goth. siujan :— OTeut. *siwjan, cogn. w. the
  synonymous L. su-ĕre, Gr. (κασ-)σύειν, Lett. schuju, OSl.
  šiti (Russ. shitp., shivatp.), Skr. siv
  (3 sing. pres. sīvyati, pa. pple. syūtá; derivatives are
  syū fem., needle or thread, syūman suture).
  
  The root (for which Hirt suggests a primary form *seyewa-) appears
  in the words above quoted as *syū- : *sīw.  Another
  ablaut-grade, *syou-, is found in OTeut. *saumo-  seam  sb. The
  pronunciation [səʊ] is abnormal (cf. strow, var. of
  strew, repr. OE. streowian); the written forms show that it
  goes back at least to the 14th c.  In the 17th c. sew sometimes
  rhymes with clue, new; the mod.Sc. pronunciation is 
  [ʃu].

Why is "sew" pronounced as "so"?

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