optative

American  

[op-tuh-tiv] / ˈɒp tə tɪv /

adjective

1. designating or pertaining to a verb mood, as in Greek, that has among its functions the expression of a wish, as Greek íoimen “may we go, we wish we might go.”

---

noun

1. the optative mood.

2. a verb in the optative mood.

optative British  

/ ˈɒptətɪv /

adjective

1. indicating or expressing choice, preference, or wish

2. grammar denoting a mood of verbs in Greek, Sanskrit, etc, expressing a wish

---

noun

1. grammar

   1. the optative mood

   2. a verb in this mood

Other Word Forms

• optatively
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of optative

1520–30; < Late Latin optātīvus, equivalent to Latin optāt ( us ) (past participle of optāre; see opt, -ate ¹) + -īvus -ive

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

optative

In the advanced seminar at Kanatsiohareke, Mina Beauvais, whose Mohawk name is Tewateronhiakhwa, was teaching students the optative, an arcane mood, akin to the subjunctive, that exists in Kurdish, Albanian, Navajo, Sanskrit, and ancient Greek.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 23, 2015

“Francis, you need the optative here instead of the subjunctive.”

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

There are languages, for instance, which have as elaborate an apparatus of negative forms for the verb as Greek has of the optative or wish-modality.

From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward

It is masculine, feminine, and neuter in gender, singular by nature, and generally accusative, and it is optative in mood and full of acute accents.

From In the Palace of the King A Love Story of Old Madrid by Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)

The future optative was also a new formation, betraying its origin in the fact that it is almost entirely limited to Oratio Obliqua.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 4 "Grasshopper" to "Greek Language" by Various