OPTATIVE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Optative

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Optative

noun

A mood (as in Greek or Sanskrit) that expresses a wish or hope; expressed in English by modal verbs. Synonym: optative mood.

adjective

Indicating an option or wish.

Relating to a mood of verbs in some languages.

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Etymology of 'Optative'

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"Optative" Quotes from Famous Books

... consequence can be gathered, that Adam was taught the names of all Figures, Numbers, Measures, Colours, Sounds, Fancies, Relations; much less the names of Words and Speech, as Generall, Speciall, Affirmative, Negative, Interrogative, Optative, Infinitive, all which are usefull; and least of all, of Entity, Intentionality, Quiddity, and other significant ...

— Leviathan • Thomas Hobbes

... Alban!" Here the condition "if thou hadst kept, etc." stands without the consequence "thou wouldst not have died," or something of the kind. Such a condition may be expressed without si, just as in Eng. without "if," cf. Iuv. III. 78 and Mayor's n. The use of the Greek optative to express a wish (with [Greek: ei gar], etc., and even without [Greek: ei]) is susceptible of the same explanation. The Latin subj. has many such points of similarity with the Gk. optative, having absorbed most of the functions of the lost Lat. optative. [Madv. ...

— Academica • Marcus Tullius Cicero