| 释义 |
optative, a. and n.|ˈɒptətɪv, ɒpˈteɪtɪv|
[a. F. optatif, -ive (15th c. in Littré), ad. late L. optātīv-us, f. optāre to wish: see -ative. The first pronunciation above is the normal one (cf. ablative, precative, relative), recognized by orthoepists generally, but the second prevails in Eng. grammar school and college use.]
A. adj.
1. Grammar. Having the function of expressing wish or desire.
optative mood or optative mode, optātīvus modus of the Latin grammarians, Priscian, etc., representing εὐκτικὴ ἔγκλισις (ἡ εὐκτική, τὸ εὐκτικόν) of the Greek grammarians: That mood or form of the verb, of which a prominent function is the expression of wish or desire, as in Gr. µὴ γένοιτο, ‘may it not happen!’ It is an original feature of the vb. in Aryan or Indo-European (where its sign was the element iē, unaccented ī, i, j, inserted between the tense-sign and the personal endings). It is retained most fully in Sanskrit and Greek, and in the so-called Subjunctive of the Teutonic langs. The name has also been applied to syntactical forms expressing the sense of the Greek Optative Mood, as in L. utinam essem, fuissem.
1530Palsgr. 84 The optative mode whiche they use whan they wisshe a dede to be done, as bien parle il, wel speke he or well myght he speke. Ibid. 85 The optative mode borroweth also his ii tenses of the subjunctive. 1571Golding Calvin on Ps. lx. 6 Some transpose the preter⁓tence of the verb into the optative moode, that it may bee a continual prayer. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1355 Thus you see, how in this little word Ei there is an optative power sufficiently declared. 1751Harris Hermes i. ii. (1786) 16 To speak Sentences interrogative, imperative, precative, or optative. 1845Stoddart Grammar in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) I. 53/1 We should not be inclined to separate the optative mood from the imperative, were it not that various Languages, and particularly the Greek, distinguish it by a separate inflection. 1879Roby Lat. Gram. II. xxi. 282 Use of the subjunctive mood to express desire: Optative and jussive subjunctive.
2. Characterized by desire or choice; expressing desire.
b. Rom. Law. = optive.
1611W. Sclater Key (1629) 126 It is eyther optatiue in the wish, or desire of the heart, or occasionall. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. vi. 29 The language of Vain-Glory, of Indignation, Pitty and Revengefulness, Optative. 1850McCosh Div. Govt. iii. i. (1874) 264 The Will or Optative Power, choosing or rejecting among the objects presented to the mind. 1875Poste Gaius i. §154 A guardian nominated by the testator is called a dative guardian; one selected by the widow is called an optative guardian.
B. n.
1. Gram. The optative mood.
1530Palsgr. Introd. 36 Some want theyr present and indiffinit optatyve, savyng onely the thyrde parson synguler. 1612Brinsley Pos. Parts (1669) 31 How know you the optative? A. It wisheth or desireth. 1614T. Adams in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxix. 4, 5 [Verse 4] is God's imperative..[Verse 5] this should be our optative. 1869J. Eadie Galatians 108 The first verb in the present subjunctive, where perhaps an optative might have been expected.
†2. Something to be desired, a desirable thing.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. viii. §3 That by these optatives and potentials mans enquirie may be the more awake. 1703T. S. Art's Improv. p. xiii, By Optatives is to be understood, all those Perfections, that being desirable, are rather very difficult, than absolutely impossible to be obtained.
Hence optatively adv., in an optative manner or sense, in expression of a wish; in the optative mood.
1625J. Hall Thanksgiv. Serm. 29 Jan., God blesseth man imperatively, and man blesseth God optatively. 1657Trapp Comm. Job xvi. 4 Some read it optatively, as..Would to God your soul were in my souls stead. 1832Fraser's Mag. VI. 291 They all, unâ voce, declaratively or optatively, condemned the conduct of the council. 1890Blackw. Mag. CXLVIII. 88/1 The only persons even optatively addicted to it belong to a species of miser vanished long since. |