percontative
adjEtymology From the Latin percontativus.
1
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Rare That is, expressed in, or having the character of the grammatical mood (mode) of rhetorical questioning; percontatorial.
- Some [grammatical writers] call these affections of the verb moods; others call them divisions, qualities, states, species, &c.; and as to the various appellations of each mood we have the personative and impersonative, the indicative, declarative, definitive, modus finiendi, modus fatendi, the rogative, interrogative, requisitive, percontative, assertive, enunciative, vocative, precative, deprecative, responsive, concessive, permissive, promissive, adhortative, optative, dubitative, imperative, mandative, conjunctive, subjunctive, adjunctive, potential, participial, infinitive, and probably many others.1845, Edward Smedley, Hugh James Rose, and Henry John Rose [eds.], Encyclopædia Metropolitana I: “Universal Grammar and Philology”, pages 50–51
- ‘Perfect Dicibles are of various sorts: Interrogative; Percontative; Adjurative; Optative; Imprecative; Execrative; Substitutive; Compellative; Hypothetical; and, lastly, Dubious.’1849, Herman Melville, Mardi II (1922 reprint), page 285
1 more example
- Destined for internal consumption, these three words nevertheless provoked the reply which you see here: who doesn’t? With an interrogation point, for the reply was percontative.1960, Raymond Queneau [aut.] (+ unknown tr.), Zazie, page 128
- Related terms
- percontation, percontatorial, punctus percontativus