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The ninth phrase (lines 17-18) of the intermediate version of the Oilima Markirya poem (PE16/77). The first word is the nominative form of the subject noun taitelúme “firmament” followed by the adverb san¹ “then” and the allative form of the noun tolla “hill” (singular in contrast to the English translations). The next words are the adjective ranka modifying “hill” and the adverb naiko which probably modifies the verb, which is the aorist 3rd-singular masculine form of lunga(na)- “to lean”.

This phrase corresponds to the lines of the English translations of the poem LA2a-LA2b (PE16/68-9): “the heavens lean on crumbling hills”. It also resembles the sixteenth line in the first English translation LA1a (PE16/67): “Heaven leaned upon the hills”.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

taitelúme-n san tolla-nta ranka naiko lunganá-r = “*firmament-(nominative) then hill-on broken sickly leaned-he”