previous next

721. A wish referring to the future may be expressed in Greek in two ways:—

I. by the optative alone; as in γένοιτο τοῦτο, may this happen, μὴ γένοιτο τοῦτο, may this not happen;

II. by the optative with εἴθε or εἰ γάρ (Homeric also αἴθε or αἲ γάρ), sometimes by the simple εἰ, negatively εἴθε μή, εἰ γὰρ μή, etc.; as in εἴθε γένοιτο τοῦτο, O that this may happen, εἰ γὰρ μὴ γένοιτο, O that it may not happen.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: