Optative (Ancient Greek)
Encyclopedia
The optative mood, from Ancient Greek
"(inflection) for wishing" and Latin "(way) of wishing", is a grammatical mood
of the Ancient Greek
verb
, named for its use as a way to express wishes. It is also used to express potentiality and to replace other moods in dependent clause
s under past-tense
main verbs.
particle
ἄν án, Homeric
κέ(ν).
The optative in the future less vivid conditional sentence
is similar to the potential optative.
).
of a past general conditional sentence
or in a temporal clause.
emerged following the conquests of Alexander the Great c. 333 BCE, the use of the optative began to wane among many Greek writers. In the New Testament, the optative is primarily used in certain fixed expressions such as μὴ γένοιτο (mḕ génoito; "absolutely not!" or literally "may it not be!", e.g. Romans 7:7). See in particular O'Sullivan, Neil, '"It would be time to discuss the optatives," Understanding the Syntax of the Optative from Protagoras to Planudes', Antichthon 45, 2011, 77-112.
combines with this vowel to form the diphthong οι.
merely noted without comment that the first person singular ending except after -ιη- was -μι, despite his previous statement that the optative usually has the endings of the secondary tenses of the indicative. The anomaly of the usual ending -μι has now been resolved with the discovery of Arcadian present optative first singular έξελαύνοια, which shows the original secondary ending previously assumed but hitherto unattested.
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
"(inflection) for wishing" and Latin "(way) of wishing", is a grammatical mood
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
of the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek verbs
Ancient Greek verbs have four moods , three voices , as well as three persons and three numbers...
verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
, named for its use as a way to express wishes. It is also used to express potentiality and to replace other moods in dependent clause
Dependent clause
In linguistics, a dependent clause is a clause that augments an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence. Dependent clauses modify the independent clause of a sentence or serve as a component of it...
s under past-tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
main verbs.
Wish
The optative of wish expresses wishes: "If only..." or "Would that...". It is sometimes preceded by εἴθε or εἰ γάρ (eíthe, ei gár).Potential
The potential optative expresses a future possibility. "I would be happy to dine with you." It is always accompanied by the modalGrammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
particle
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
ἄν án, Homeric
Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. It is an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with admixtures from certain other dialects, such as Aeolic Greek. It later served as the basis of Epic Greek, the language of epic poetry, typically in...
κέ(ν).
The optative in the future less vivid conditional sentence
Conditional sentence
In grammar, conditional sentences are sentences discussing factual implications or hypothetical situations and their consequences. Languages use a variety of conditional constructions and verb forms to form such sentences....
is similar to the potential optative.
Subordinate clauses
The optative mood is used in a subordinate clause that is governed by a past tense verb (secondary sequenceSequence of tenses
In grammar, the sequence of tenses is a rule of a particular language governing the relationship between the grammatical tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences to show the temporal relationship of the events to...
).
Past general
It is used in the conditionProtasis (linguistics)
In linguistics, a protasis is the subordinate clause in a conditional sentence. For example, in "if X, then Y", the protasis is "if X"...
of a past general conditional sentence
Conditional sentence
In grammar, conditional sentences are sentences discussing factual implications or hypothetical situations and their consequences. Languages use a variety of conditional constructions and verb forms to form such sentences....
or in a temporal clause.
Indirect speech
In reported speech, the indicative in a direct quotation is replaced by the optative in an indirect quotation when the verb of saying is in a past tense (“said”). The present optative stands for both the present and the imperfect indicative, and the perfect optative stands for both the perfect and the pluperfect. The future optative stands for the future, and is only used in this construction.Koine and gradual extinction
Later, as Koine GreekKoine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
emerged following the conquests of Alexander the Great c. 333 BCE, the use of the optative began to wane among many Greek writers. In the New Testament, the optative is primarily used in certain fixed expressions such as μὴ γένοιτο (mḕ génoito; "absolutely not!" or literally "may it not be!", e.g. Romans 7:7). See in particular O'Sullivan, Neil, '"It would be time to discuss the optatives," Understanding the Syntax of the Optative from Protagoras to Planudes', Antichthon 45, 2011, 77-112.
Morphology
Optative endings contain ι. In the present optative of ω-verbs, the ο of ablautIndo-European ablaut
In linguistics, ablaut is a system of apophony in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages...
combines with this vowel to form the diphthong οι.
| optative | | present | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| active | middle | passive | |
| -ω verb |
λύοιμι λύοις λύοι λύοιμεν λύοιτε λύοιεν |
λυοίην λύοιο λύοιτο λυοίμεθα λύοισθε λύοιντο |
|
First person singular ending
Gordon M. Messing explains that in dealing with the endings of the optative mood, Herbert Weir SmythHerbert Weir Smyth
Herbert Weir Smyth was an American classical scholar. His comprehensive grammar of ancient Greek has become a standard reference on the subject in English, comparable to William Watson Goodwin's, whom he succeeded as Eliott Professor of Greek Literature at Harvard University.He was educated at...
merely noted without comment that the first person singular ending except after -ιη- was -μι, despite his previous statement that the optative usually has the endings of the secondary tenses of the indicative. The anomaly of the usual ending -μι has now been resolved with the discovery of Arcadian present optative first singular έξελαύνοια, which shows the original secondary ending previously assumed but hitherto unattested.