ܐܣܦܗ sph army
MP spāh [spʾh] army (CPD 75; Nyberg 177); ManMP ʿspʾh /ispāh/ army and ManParth. ʿspʾd /ispāδ/ (Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 86); Arm. LW spah, or spay (← MP: Bolognesi 1960, 14; cf. Hübschmann AG 239, no. 585); Av. spāda-, OP spāda-; NP sipāh an army (Horn 651 and 699) ● BB 1518, 17 ◆ LS 36a; Sundermann 1989a, 106 f.
In MP spāh, the outcome h from OIr. *d is a non-standard one, which some scholars attribute to Middle Median or Atropatenian Median dialect: see Schmitt 2005, 53 f. and n. 2, with bibl.