Να μου ζήσεις

[Charlie Parker]

Να μου ζήσεις
According to the marginal note in my book, Modern Greek for Classicists, this means “may you live many years.” Here is the broader context: Μπράβο Θησέα! Να μου ζήσεις με τις ωραίες ιδέες. It is an imaginary conversation between Hercules and Theseus. I am quite new to Modern Greek. I think this would be expressed by the optative mood in Ancient Greek. Can anyone explain this construction to me? What is μου doing there?

 

[ioanell]

Να μου ζήτεις ζήσεις

this means “may you live many years.”

That's right, but "to/for my pleasure" should be added for a more meticulous translation.

The verb ζήσεις, along with the particle να in front of it, is in the subjunctive mood, which among other denotations also expresses sth desired, a wish, e.g. Μακάρι να ζήσει=I wish s/he lived, may s/he live.
μου is the genitive of the weak form of the personal pronoun of the 1st person [εγώ] and in this case is called "genitive charistiki" (I'm using the Greek grammatical term) as it denotes the person in whose favour/delight something is said or done.

 

[ioanell]

I think this would be expressed by the optative mood in Ancient Greek.

That's correct!

 

[Charlie Parker]

Thank you so much, ioanell. I corrected my silly error.

 

[bearded]

I corrected my silly error.

We still read ζήτεις in the title.

 

[Charlie Parker]

Thanks bearded. I think I fixed it now.

 

[bearded]

μου is the genitive... for my pleasure

In other languages, that would of course be a dative case ('ethical dative' or 'dative of advantage').

 

[Perseas]

In other languages, that would of course be a dative case ('ethical dative' or 'dative of advantage').

Hallo, bearded. Do you have other languages in mind other than Ancient Greek or German?

 

[bearded]

other languages in mind other than Ancient Greek or German?

Hello Perseas
In Romance languages, personal pronouns still have a 'dative' case.
Italian (colloquial): spero che mi vivrai a lungo.
Perhaps French (colloquial) : J'espère que tu me vivras longtemps..

 

[Apollodorus]

In Romance languages, personal pronouns still have a 'dative' case.
Italian (colloquial): spero che mi vivrai a lungo.
Perhaps French (colloquial) : J'espère que tu me vivras longtemps..

Romanian “să-mi trăiești” seems to be closest to Greek "vα μου ζήσεις", possibly due to Greek/Balkanic influence.