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.
Adûnaic
bâ
particle. don’t
bâ kitabdahê
Don’t touch me!
-ak Reconstructed
preposition. away
A suffix in the word êphalak “far away”, a derivative of êphal “far” (SD/247). Some authors have suggested that -ak is an intensive suffix “very” instead of suffix meaning “away” (LGtAG, NBA/32). However, the corresponding Quenya word vahai(y)a “far away” is a combination va “(away) from” and haiya “far”, so it seems to me that the literal translation “away” is more likely to be correct (this translation of va was published after LGtAG and NBA were written).
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.