Here's the full stanza from the paq'batlh: ghIq QavwI'chaj DuQchu' qeylIS betleH chaHDaq SIStaHvIS negh 'Iw Then Kahless's bat'leth Pierced the last of them, Showered with the soldiers' blood. {chaHDaq SIStaHvIS negh 'Iw} "while the soldiers' blood rained on them" I'm not sure this supports your idea that *{SISwI'} may mean "rainwater". I think your first instinct was correct: if anything, *{SISwI'} "thing that rains/showers", e.g. a rain cloud (or maybe even a shower or sprinkler head). I don't remember if anyone has mentioned this, but we also have {SIS yoD} "umbrella" from TalkNow ("rain shield"??). However, lojmIt tI'wI'nuv reported a personal discussion with MO at qepHom 2011: "Note: the existence of a noun *{SIS} 'rain' is probably limited to this expression (i.e. it's a fossilised remnant rather than a productive noun)." --Voragh On Behalf Of Felix Malmenbeck Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2017 7:19 AM According to an e-mail by Roger Cheesbro:
All correct. SISlu', altho grammaticlly correct, he didn't particularly like. Someone COULD use it but to me it sounds like they skipped science class and don't know what the subject is. You can also give it an object and say things like the clouds rained down cats and dogs. ...or something like that; you get the idea. But when Marc and I went outside and drops of water were falling on us, he looked up and simply said "SIS".
This would indicate that a {SISwI'} would actually be a rain cloud, rather than the rain itself, which would be {bIQ SISlu'bogh}. However, in paq'batlh (paq'raD, Canto 13, Stanza 6), we have the sentence {chaHDaq SIStaHvIS 'Iw}, indicating that rainwater may indeed be described as {SISwI'}.