ܐܪܓܦܛܐ rgpṭʾ an official, inspector of revenue
Allotropes: ܐܠܩܦܬܐ ʾlqptʾ, ܐܪܓܒܛܐ ʾrgbṭʾ
OIr. *harka-pati-, MP harg(u)bed inspector of revenue (Gignoux 1972, 23 and 52; Szemerényi 1975, 369 f.); MP Inscr. hlgwpt; hrgwp[t] (NPi 192 f.); Parth. Inscr. ʾrkpty, hrkpty the Hargbed, an official (Humbach – Skjærvø 1978–1983, 3/1, 95 s.v.). — Palmyr. ʾrgbṭʾ argabaṭā (Greenfield 1987, 258 ʾrgptʾ city governor); Nabat. ʾrgbṭʾ; Talm. Aram. ʾrqbtʾ, ʾrqbṭʾ, ʾrqptʾ, ʾrqpṭʾ, ʾlqptʾ, ʾlqpṭʾ (Telegdi 228, 15; Shaked 1987, 260, also quotes Aram. ʿrqptʾ and ʿrgbtʾ). According to Szemerényi 1975, 371 and Khurshudian 1998, 123 all these Semitic forms were borrowed from Iranian through Greek (ἀργαβίδης, Theoph. Sim. 3, 18, 6-14; ἀρκαπέτης and ἀρχαπέτης, by folk-etymology with ἀρχή; ἀργαπέτης). It is a loanword of the pre-Sasanian period (Telegdi 218); for /r/ rendered by «l» in Syr. and Talm. Aram. see Telegdi 207; as regards the Parthian forms ark- etc. see Telegdi 208 f. about the Parthian psylosis (see also § 10 and n. 275) ● Syn 21, 22 ◆ LS, addenda; PS Suppl. 34
According to the traditional etymological explanation, MP harg(u)bed and Parth. argbed would derive from OIr. *arka-pati- castle lord (in fact, LS translates the Syr. word as "dominus arcis": see s.v. ʾrzbd); as a matter of fact, the epigraphic evidence, where the initial h- is graphically different from the initial aleph, persuade us to posit OIr. *harka-pati-. On the Ir. title, see also Horn 18; Christensen 1944, 107; Khurshudian 1998, 289 n. 16. The first element is OIr. *harka-, MP harg duty, tribute (CPD 43), Arm. hark; on the second element (OIr. *-pati-, MP -bed) see § 9.3.2.