Optative Mood
- ️Wed Jun 01 2016
Definition:
Optative mood is a volitive mood that signals wishing or hoping.
Examples:
(Classical Greek)
Here is an example of optative mood (diacritical markings are not reproduced here):
ei gar genoime:n teknon anti sou nekros
oh that become.1SINGULAR.AORIST.OPTATIVE son instead-of thou corpse
‘O that I might be a corpse, my child, instead of you!’
(Euripides, Hypolytus 1410 cited by Palmer 1986 117 )