Yes, it's basically a case of ancient people misunderstanding correlation and causation. Around the time rice is planted, lots of thunderstorms happen. They possibly thought the lightning hitting rice paddies somehow was important in the process.
Or at least, that's why the word is what it is.
That is very interesting. I do struggle to understand why the word wife was chosen though.
Since thunderstorms accompany the rice growing season they started referring to them as the "Rice's Spouse"
Indeed. Though 妻 is currently only used to refer to a female spouse (wife), the word つま can technically refer to either spouse in its original meaning.
"3 A word that refers to one of a pair of things that are closely related"
or
"３ 鹿と萩、秋風と萩など、関係の深い一組のものの一方をいう語。"
Thanks, this clears things up. In this case, I am the wife of videogames and anime.
Why is the word for lightning composed of the words for rice plant and wife?
Would it be because lightning often struck rice plants?