The verb βρεχω (brecho) means to rain and is used pretty much the same as the equivalent in English, including a third person singular form to say that "it" rains. It's not clear where this word comes from, and thus what it may have originally denoted. The classics predominantly use the verb υω (huo) for to rain, and it's not immediately clear how this verb differs from βρεχω (brecho). But from the verb υω (huo) comes the noun υδωρ (hudor), meaning water, which suggests that υω (huo) typically speaks of watering, whereas βρεχω (brecho), more broadly, may speak of being flooded by or inundated in wealth, light, tears (Luke 7:38), or chunks of burning material falling from heaven (Luke 17:29).

Our verb βρεχω (brecho) may also describe how sponges (or heavy drinkers) are soaked, which suggests that υω (huo) focusses more on the water falling from the sky, whereas our verb βρεχω (brecho) focusses more on whatever becomes over-saturated with whatever floods it, from whichever source. In our article on νεφελη (nephele) we show how the hydrological cycle can be applied to the mind, and since Greek literacy derives from the Hebrew one, we here at Abarim Publications suspect that our verb βρεχω (brecho) likewise derives from the familiar Hebrew verb ברך (barak), meaning to bless.

Also see our article on the verb βαπτω (bapto), to immerse, and the noun ιχθυς (ichtus), fish, for more reflections on the cognitive aspect of the hydrological cycle.

Our verb βρεχω (brecho), to inundate, is used 7 times in the New Testament, see full concordance, and from it derives:

The noun βροχος (brochos) means snare or noose, and like the above, is of unknown origin. In the classics, this word is used predominantly to describe a bird-catching device, and when it is applied to humans, these humans are commonly being strangled or hanged like captured birds. How a word for noose came to look like a word for rain is not at all clear, and there doesn't seem to be much wordplay in the classics that would attest to any occupation with this conundrum. If there is any connection, it might be that a noose and being inundated by a flood have the same effect of immobilizing and throttling its victim.

Our noun occurs in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 7:35 only, in the middle of Paul's famous discourse "concerning virgins", and the word for virgin, namely παρθενος (parthenos), immediately reminds of Athena and hence Athens. Significantly, Athens was governed from the Areopagus (Acts 17:19 and 17:22), which is a term that derives from the noun παγος (pagos), anything fixed, from the verb παγιδευω (pagideuo), meaning to lay a trap or a snare. Paul frequently emphasized the freedom people have in Christ (Galatians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 3:17), which can only be enjoyed when one has the maturity to handle sovereignty (see our article on ελευθερια, eleutheria, freedom-by-law). But a freedom that is attained from knowing how things work is obviously not the same thing as binding oneself to the graven imagery of some dogmatic religion or creed.

Perhaps significant, the name Rebekah derives from the verb רבק (rabaq), to tie firmly, and she was the mother of Jacob and Esau, the latter of which became associated with Rome. Some other names that have to do with snaring and may be relevant: the ethnonym Elkoshite means One Snared By God, and is an epithet of the prophet Nahum, after whom was named Capernaum, meaning Village of Nahum. A similar ethnonym is Kenizzite, meaning Hunter or Snarer. The name Jokshan (of an Abrahamic brother of Midian) means He Who Sets A Snare. The name of the father of king Saul, namely Kish, means Snaring (hence also the Kishon river).

In our article on the verb αλισκω (alisko), to be caught or captured, we list several Greek words that have to do with snaring and catching. Also see noun δολος (dolos), a trap of some sort, and verb πνιγω (pnigo), to choke or throttle.