What is "optative mood"

Optative \Op"ta*tive\, a. [L. optativus: cf. F. optatif.] Expressing desire or wish.
--Fuller.

Optative mood (Gram.), that mood or form of a verb, as in Greek, Sanskrit, etc., in which a wish or desire is expressed.

n. a mood (as in Greek or Sanskrit) that expresses a wish or hope; expressed in English by modal verbs [syn: optative]

The '''Optative mood ''' ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope. It is similar to the cohortative mood, and is closely related to the subjunctive mood.

English has no morphological optative, but there are various constructions with optative meaning. One uses the modal verb may, e.g. May you have a long life! Another uses the phrase if only with a verb in the past or past subjunctive, e.g. If only I were rich! Another uses the present subjunctive, e.g. God save the Queen!

Examples of languages with an optative mood are Biblical Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Albanian, Armenian, Georgian, Kazakh, Kurdish, Navajo, Old Prussian, Old Persian, Sanskrit, and Turkish.