NOLI ME TANGEREN

PRONUNCIATION: (NO-lee mee/may TAN-juh-ree)

MEANING: noun: 1. Someone or something that must not be touched or interfered with.
2. A warning against touching or meddling.
3. Any of various plants whose seed capsules burst open when touched.
adj.: Relating to prohibition or fear of being touched.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin noli me tangere (do not touch me), from noli (do not), imperative of nolle (to be unwilling) + me (me) + tangere (to touch). Earliest documented use: 1398.
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SOLI ME TANGERE - Don't touch anybody but me!

NOLI SE HANGERE - In the first place, hanging yourself is a difficult (not to say dangerous) thing to attempt, and in the second...in the second, it's suicide, and suicide is a capital offense! [after W S Gilbert]

NOLI ME TANGIERE - Whatever you do, Br'er Fox, don't throw me in Tangiers! [after Uncle Remus]