Meaning of utinam | Babel Free

Definitions

if only!, I wish that!, oh that!, would that!, would to heaven!

not-comparable

Equivalents

Examples

“Sentīs mea vulnera, sentīs; atque utinam sōlī sint ea nōta tibi.”

You feel my wounds, you feel: and I hope they are only known to you.

“CHREMĒS: Utinam id sit quod spērō! CHREMES: If only it turns out to be what I’m hoping for! (utinam id sit: optative present subjunctive expressing a wish capable of fulfillment.)”

““Atque utinam rēx ipse Notō compulsus eōdem adforet Aenēās!” “And would that your king himself – had he been driven by the same south wind – were present: Aeneas!” – Queen Dido”

“Quod utinam minus vītae cupidī fuissēmus!”

Oh, would that we had been less fond of life! (Writing from exile, Cicero uses the pluperfect subjunctive fuissemus in an optative clause introduced by utinam to express a wish that was unfulfilled in the past: In hindsight, would death at that time have been preferable to his family’s current state of despair?)

CEFR level