  Herbet Smyth: Greek Grammer. 1814. Optative of Wish - In independent sentences the optative with 'an' is used to express a wish referring to the future.
From this is derived the name of the mood (Lat. opto wish ). 1824. Potential Optative. - The potential optative with 'an' states a future possibility, propriety, or likelihood, as as opinion of the speaker; it may be translated by may, might, can (especially with a negative), must, would, should (rarely will, shall ). 1825 . Usually these optatives are not limited by any definite condition present to the mind, and it is unnecessary to supply any protasis in thought. In some cases a protasis is dormant in a word of the sentence... ...ei gar ophelon philoien - Would that I might love ... The optative may also be used to express irony. backBlog('NUMBER','NAME') urlLink Feedback 
