A particle glossed “don’t” in the phrase
bâ kitabdahê “Don’t touch me!”. It may be a derivative of the Elvish root ᴹ√
AB “refuse, deny, say no”, as suggested by Helge Fauskanger (
AL/Adûnaic). Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (
VSH/25,
AAD/13) it is an example of the
optative mood mentioned by Tolkien SD/439, where “optative” is an expression of a desire or wish. If so, it expresses a negative wish.
A positive wish might be expressed by the particle
du.