ܐܝܢܒܕ ynbd lictor, or chief of the cavalry (?)
Allotropes: ܐܝܢܘܕ ʾynwd; ܐܝܙܦܛܐ ʾyzpṭʾ satelles, lictor: according to Lagarde, this form is related to ʾyzgdʾ (cf. s.v.); on the contrary, LS suggests to emend ʾyzpṭʾ to ʾynpṭʾ (a correction that is paleographically very easy); in this case, ʾyzpṭʾ would simply be an older allotrope of ʾynbd
MP āyēnbed; cf. MP Inscr. āyēnīg (KZ l. 28); Arm. LW ayenpet, second element of the compound šahrayenpet (Sebeos), corresponding to the MP title šahrēwēnbed ("Reichsoberhaut des Ritual?" Khurshudian 1998, 106) ● ʾynbd am 2, 584, 2; 618, 5; JšJS 530, 19; Bedjan, Hist. 245, 15; Hoffmann 1880, 64; ʾynwd Hoffmann 1880, 68; ʾyzpṭʾ BB 122,13 ◆ LS 16a; 10b; Lagarde GA 187, 3; Braun 1915, 205 and 213
The precise function of this Sasanian dignity is debated; the translations of LS ("lictor seu magister equitum") and of PS Suppl. 15 (official, torturer) seem untenable. Khurshudian 1998, 102 and 106 translates MP āyēnbed as "Haupt des Rituals"; Christensen 1944, 300 "conservateur en chef des us et coutumes"; Gignoux 1986, 96 ff. claims that the āyēnbed would essentially perform the duty “de s'occuper de la rédaction (peut-être) et de la conservation des āyēn-nāme”; Gyselen 1989, 6, 34 translates "le maître des āyēn", namely, gifts whose purchase was obligatory in the occasion of the feasts of Nowrūz and Mihrgān (Christensen 1944, 125). See also Huyse 1999/2, 128 f.; Gignoux 1980a, 201.