optative mood

English

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optative mood

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• (abbreviation, grammar): opt.

Etymology

From Middle French optatif, from Late Latin optātīvus, a calque of Ancient Greek εὐκτική (euktikḗ, “related to wishing”), from Latin optātus, past participle of optāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒptətɪv/, /ɒpˈteɪtɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: op‧ta‧tive
• Rhymes: -eɪtɪv

Adjective

optative (not comparable)

1. Expressing a wish or a choice.
   • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC:

     an optative blessing

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 64:

     […] then, in the optative retirement from hard science that building and opening a U.S.T.A-accredited and pedagogically experimental tennis academy apparently represented for him […]

2. (grammar) Related or pertaining to the optative mood.

Related terms

• cooptative

Translations

expressing a wish

Greek: Ancient: εὐκτικός (euktikós) Polish: życzeniowy (pl)

pertaining to the optative mood

Albanian: dëshirore (sq) Bulgarian: желателен (bg) (želatelen) Esperanto: optativo (eo) Finnish: optatiivinen Greek: Ancient: εὐκτικός (euktikós) Hungarian: óhajtó (hu) Italian: ottativo (it) Korean: 원망법 (wonmangbeop) Old English: ġewȳsċendlīċ Polish: życzący Tamil: வியங்கோள் (ta) (viyaṅkōḷ) Vietnamese: thức mong mỏi

Noun

optative (plural optatives)

1. (grammar) A mood of verbs found in some languages (e.g. Sanskrit, Old Prussian, Tamil, and Ancient Greek, but not English), used to express a wish.
2. (grammar) A verb or expression in the optative mood.

Derived terms

• optatively

Translations

optative

Azerbaijani: arzu şəkli Esperanto: optativo (eo) Finnish: optatiivi (fi) French: optatif (fr) m Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Optativ (de), Wunschform (de) Greek: ευκτική (el) f (efktikí) Ancient: εὐκτική f (euktikḗ) Hungarian: optativus, óhajtó mód Icelandic: óskháttur m Italian: ottativo (it) m Korean: 원망법 (wonmangbeop) Old English: ġewȳsċendlīċ Polish: tryb życzący m Portuguese: optativo (pt) m Spanish: optativo (es) m Swedish: optativ c Tamil: வியங்கோள் (ta) (viyaṅkōḷ) Turkish: istek kipi (tr)

See also

• subjunctive

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Adjective

optative

1. feminine singular of optatif

Latin

Adjective

optātīve

1. vocative masculine singular of optātīvus