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

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

Throughout the Greek classical period the moods are maintained, but in the period of the κοινή the optative occurs less and less and finally disappears.

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

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)

Their verbs have four moods, the indicative, optative, imperative, and infinitive, and five tenses, one present, three preterites, and one future.

From The Arawack Language of Guiana in its Linguistic and Ethnological Relations by Brinton, Daniel Garrison