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This is my first post here, I'm sorry if I didn't follow any formatting or
posting rules.

Original sentence, from a character's monologue:

> **願わくば** この時間が少しでも長く続くことを。。。

The English translation I have (not mine or official) is

> I wish this moment could last even a little bit longer.....

I was quite confused by this conjugation, so I did some research on this site,
and read [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/17906/conjugating-
into-%E3%81%AA%E3%81%91%E3%82%8C%E3%81%B0/17907) on how conditionals can be
represented as 連用形 + あれば. So is 願わくば a contraction of 願わなくあれば / 願わなければ ?

But the thing I'm more confused about is, why is the negative conditional form
used here in the first place? In the plain conditional, this looks something
like " **If** I had to wish for something, it would be for this moment to
continue for a little longer", but why the seemingly negative form? (Or is it
even negative to begin with?)

Sorry for the ~~double~~ triple-loaded question, but one more thing: is this
contraction of the conditional form commonly used? (Like in informal
contexts?)

**Edit:** In case you're wondering why I made these somewhat far-fetched
guesses: I guessed negative because of the わ (願う->願 **わ** ない), and guessed
conditional because of the ば (願う->願え **ば** ). Sorry >.<

Thank you for your time.
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meaning verbs etymology conjugations nominalization
What conjugation of 願う is 願わくば, and what does it mean here?
願わくば is actually a 副詞, not anything else you might have confused it with. It
simply means "I wish that...."

I found some more information about this in this page:
<http://keigo.livedoor.biz/archives/946281.html>

> 「願わくば」という言い回しは間違いですが、現在では、「願わくば」と使われることが多くなり、間違いとは言い切れなくなってきているのが現状でしょう

According to this page, 願わくば is actually an incorrect form of 願わくは, which
comes from a 文語詞 of 願う（願ふ）. The page also states that 願わくば is a very common
expression nowadays. This means that classifying it as incorrect is debatable.

Edit: For further clarification, 願はく is a noun form of 願ふ, which then had は
added to it(i.e. "the wish is.."). the は turned into わ and the final は turned
into ば in modern usage.
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This 願わくば is a fixed expression fossilized long ago, and you just have to
memorize it without thinking about it too much. It's a literary expression
that corresponds to "Hopefully, ..." used as a sentence adverb.

As pointed out in the comment, this is related to ク語法, a grammatical feature
which had already dropped out of use more than 1000 years ago. It was
originally 願わくは (nominalized 願う + topic marker は = "What I hope is ..."). 願わくは
is still used, but I hear 願わくば more often.

Here are some words and phrases which are etymologically related to ク語法. It's
not really worth analyzing them too much unless you want to be an expert of
old Japanese grammar.

>   * [曰【いわ】く](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/15929/meaning/m0u/) (someone)
> saying ...
>   * [恐【おそ】らく](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/31364/meaning/m0u/) probably
>   * [思惑【おもわく】](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/33561/meaning/m0u/) thoughts,
> expectation
>   * [老【お】いらく](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/27306/meaning/m0u/) aging,
> getting old [※rare]
>   * [惜【お】しむらくは…](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/31113/meaning/m0u/)
> Regrettably, ...
>   * [望【のぞ】むらくは…](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/171956/meaning/m0u/)
> Hopefully, ...
>
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