Ad. bâ kitabdahê “Don’t touch me!”
An isolated Adûnaic sentences appearing in “The Notion Club Papers” (SD/250). None of its elements appear elsewhere, making it difficult to interpret, but there is a some consensus in the literature as to the likeliest interpretations. The first word, bâ “don’t” could be derived from the Primitive Elvish root √BĀ/ABA “refuse, deny”, possibly an example of the optative mood (AAD, LGtAG). The first element of the second word could be a pronoun ki- “you”. The middle portion tabda could be the aorist form of a verb *tabad- “touch”. The last element -hê seems to be the object pronoun “me”, though Thorsten Renk (NBA/18) suggested it is an imperative marker instead.
Reference ✧ SD/250 ✧ Bā kitabdahē! “Don’t touch me!”
Elements
bâ | “don’t” | ✧ SD/250 (Bā) | |
ki | “*you” | prefix | ✧ SD/250 |
#tabad- | “to touch” | aorist | ✧ SD/250 (tabda) |
#hê | “me” | ✧ SD/250 (-hē) |