L1.8: Terminative-Adverbiative#

The ending -iš had originally a terminative, later locative, function. It corresponds semantically to the preposition ana plus genitive. It can occur on nouns and adjectives:

Example

  • qerbiš “in the midst”.

  • On nouns it is no loonger productive. Its use is very restricted.

  • On infinitve, it denotes purpose:

    Example

    • amariš “(in order) to see”.

  • When it is used with another noun, the second is in genitive:

    Example

    • dāriš ūmī “forever” (lit. “for perpetuity of days”).

  • It can also be used with suffixes.

    Example

    • šēpiššu “at his foot”.

    • qātiššu “at his foot”.

  • In later stages of the language it can be used with the meaning “like” equivalent to kīma + gen. “like a”:

    Example

    • abūbiš “like a flood” = kīma abūbim.

    • abūbāniš “like a flood” (with the suffix -an)

  • It can be used to form adverbs when it is added to an adjective:

    Example

    • mādiš “much greatly”.

    • damqiš “well”.

    • rabîš “greatly

    • hadîš joyfully

  • The ending -išam is an adverbial suffix that has principally a distributive meaning:

    Example

    • umišam “daily”.

    • warhišam “monthly”.