Herbert Weir Smyth [n.d.], A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [info] [word count] [Smyth].

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934

In some so-called impersonal verbs the person is left unexpressed because the actor is understood or implied in the action. So

a. In expressions of natural phenomena originally viewed as produced by a divine agent: βροντᾷ tonat, ὕ_ει pluit, νείφει ningit, χειμάζει it is stormy, ἔσεισε it shook, there was an earthquake. The agent (Ζεύς, ὁ θεός) is often (in Hom. always) expressed, as Ζεὺς ἀστράπτει Iuppiter fulget.

b. When the agent is known from the action, which is viewed as alone of importance: σαλπίζει the trumpet sounds (i.e. ὁ σαλπιγκτὴς σαλπίζει the trumpeter sounds the trumpet), ἐκήρυξε proclamation-was made (scil. ὁ κῆρυξ), σημαίνει the signal is given (scil. ὁ κῆρυξ or ὁ σαλπιγκτής).

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Herbert Weir Smyth [n.d.], A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [info] [word count] [Smyth].

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