'World' subjects of meteorological predicates

[Claire Bowern]

This from the Middle Liddell:

Zeus hu:e 'Zeus sends rain' (Homeric, etc)
ho theos hu:ei 'God sends rain': Herodotos
'then, the nom. being omitted, huei used impers, Lat pluit, Hesiod, 
Herodotos
2. with accusative of place. hepta eteo:n ouk hu:e te:n The:re:n (seven 
years not rained fem.acc Thera.acc) 'It didn't rain on Thera for seven 
years.'
..hence in passive 'to be rained on'
3. with cognate object: hu:se khruson 'it rained gold' (Pindar); kainon 
aei Zeus huei hudo:r (Aristophanes), untranslated in L&S but something 
like 'Zeus is always raining new water'

Claire

  > Also "Iuppiter tonat" and you would wonder how he did /that/!
> Also in Classical Greek: Zeus hu:e: (or hyei or how you want to transcribe it).
> The theory I have heard claims that the subject could be left out as
> understood, thus turning an action verb into a process verb. I would check this
> at least in a good dictionary (I don't have access to Liddel&Scott for Greek
> right where I am now, but can check later).
>