ܐܣܛܒܝܕ sṭbyd general, chief of the army
MP aspbed chief of the cavalry; OIr. *aspa-pati-; MP Inscr. ʾsppt, Parth. Inscr. ʾsppty, Gr. Inscr. ἀσπιπίδου (KZ MP 31, Parth. 25; Gr. 61); Arm. aspet (Bolognesi 1960, 12; Hübschmann AG 109, no. 67); Bactr. proper name ασβιδο (Sims-Williams 2000, 181); Gr. proper names Ἀσπεβέδης (Procopius, Bell. I 9; 11; 21; 23), Ἀσπενέδης (Photius, Bibl. 63, 22, PG t. 103, p. 123), Ἀσπέτιος (Teophanes, CSBH p. 228), Ἀσπαβέδης (Teophyl. Sim. IV 3, 5). According to Sundermann (1998, 125), the presence of an emphatic dental in Syr. ʾsṭbyd can be explained as “a spelling error of the Pahlavi-script, the writing of p (following another letter) + ' in ligature as t”. This implies that the Syr. word was borrowed from a MP written form, which is very unusual (see § 12). However, Sims-Williams (personal communication) suggests different possible solutions: ʾsṭbyd may reflect MP *asbed (cf. Bactr. ασβιδο and Arab. asbaḏ) with insertion of -ṭ- as a transitional consonant in the unusual group -sb-, or may show a dissimilation from MP aspbed ● J St 58, 16 ◆ LS 32b; PS Suppl. 26
As regards the Iranian word, see Nöldeke 1879, 444; Chaumont 1968; Christensen 1944, 104, n. 1; Huyse 1999/2, 155; Eilers 1961–1962, 214 (Arab. asbaḏ); Khurshudian 1998, 40; 274 n. 62; 150; Gignoux – Gyselen 1987, 44