Everyone has been using the word “wish” to describe the verb suffix {-jaj}. My understanding has been that it’s more like a blessing than a wish. It’s one thing to wish someone success in battle. That’s subtly different from addressing the person who is about to go to battle and offer the blessing, “May you be successful in battle!”
I can wish I had a sandwich.
That’s not what I’d use {-jaj} for, though. “May it be that I get a sandwich!” Really?
Yes, you wish for the thing that you offer as a blessing, but offering a blessing is really different from generic wishing in an important way. It’s more like, “There’s an entity for which I want something, and I’d like to muster whatever small influence I have over Fate to improve the odds that this entity gets what I’m wishing for it."
-jaj forms the Klingon optative mood. It is not about
influencing fate or giving blessings; it is about expressing a
hope for the future with the subtext that you believe the thing
you hope for is somehow right or proper. If you happen to believe
in supernatural powers you might speak to them to get them to act
on your behalf, but that's not what -jaj is about. (God
save the Queen is optative, but it is not addressing God and
is not imperative. Who else but the God you are not addressing is
going to influence God into saving the Queen?)
-jaj is also not just about wanting something. If you were a hungry prisoner, you wouldn't tell your guard, choje'jaj may you feed me. You would just say choje' vIneH I want you to feed me (or, more simply, HIje' feed me!) Using -jaj has to express a hope in the face of possible failure.
-- SuStel http://trimboli.name