A Study of the Optative Mood in Middle Persian and Parthian

The optative in Western Middle Iranian languages (MP and Pth) is one of the most difficult and complicated issues in these languages. In spite of a large body of researches on verbal systems and modality in Iranian languages, I do believe that so far no comprehensive study has been done on this topic. If we want to understand the language completely, at first we must understand the grammar; and verbal system is a quite important part of the grammar. Understanding the verbs including their tense, mood, aspect, etc. can help us to understand the sentence and therefor the language correctly. Analyzing the optative which is a less well-understood part of MP and Pth will bring about a more comprehensive grasping of these languages and will lead us to a better understanding. It will also help us to understand NP and other Iranian languages more thoroughly.

I am therefore going to study and analyze the optative in MP and Pth and try to clarify its different uses and the ways it can be interpreted.