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.”

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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

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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

Thus much, if it may please your Lordship, was in the optative mood.

From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 3 by Hamilton Wright Mabie

My dearest Mr. Boyd,—I wish I had a note from you to-day—which optative aorist I am not sure of being either grammatical or reasonable!

From The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1 of 2) by Sir Frederic G. (Frederic George) Kenyon

Re prefixed to this tense turned it into a preterperfect in middle Cornish, but in the later form re is only used for the optative.

From A Handbook of the Cornish Language chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature by Henry Jenner