1. لَيْتَ
layota * a word denoting a wish [signifying Would that —; I wish that —;] (S, K;) generally relating to a thing that is impossible; rarely to a thing that is possible: (IHsh, K:) governing the subject in the acc. case, and the predicate in the nom. case, (S, K,) like kaA^an~a (or [rather] A_in~a , MF) and its coordinates, because it resembles verbs in their force as words, [being composed of at least three letters, and the last being meftoohah,] and in their admitting most of the pronouns as affixes, and in their meanings. (S.) Ex. layota zayodFA *aAhibN [ Would that Zeyd were going; ] (S;) and layotaniY faEalotu ka*aA waka*aA [ Would that I had done so and so. ] (TA.) You say layotiY as well as layotaniY , (S, K,) like laEal~iY and laEal~aniY , and A_in~iY and A_in~aniY : (S:) but lytnY is more common than lytY ; whereas lEl~nY is less common than lEl~Y . (TA.) You also say yaA layota O, would that —;.] As to the saying of the poet, yaA layota A^ay~aAma AlS~ibaA rawaAjiEaA meaning lanaA rawaAjiEa , [ O, would that the days of youth were returning ( to us )!] rwAjE is put in the acc. case therein as a word descriptive of state: (S:) or it is governed in the acc. case by a verb understood, as A^aqobalato , or EaAdato , or some other verb suitable to the meaning: so says Sb: (TA:) or lyt in the above verse may be used in the manner of wajadotu , [see below], (S,) for lyt is sometimes used in the manner of wajadotu [I found], (Fr, S, K,) in government, not in meaning, (MF,) as related by the grammarians on the authority of certain of the Arabs, so that it is doubly transitive, and used in the manner of verbs: (S:) you say, layota zayodFA $aAxiSFA [ Would that Zeyd were going away, &c. ]: (S, K:) this is done to give intensiveness: one says, for this purpose, layota zayodFA qaAy^imFA ( Would that Zeyd were standing ) putting both the subject and the predicate in the acc. case. (Msb.) ― -b2- layotamaA : see De Sacy's Gr. Ar. ii. 63. ― -b3- See also an ex. of lyt as a subst. voce sawofa .