ܩܘܢܕܩܘܪ qwndqwr chief of the army, governor, commander
Fraenkel (1891, 319) claims that this Syr. word corresponds to the name of a Persian office, in the Syr. ms. C of PsC glossed with Pers. sardār head, commander. The etyma proposed for this hapax are: a) the first element of the compound would correspond to MP gund army, troop (CPD 38), a word that also occurs as a loanword in JBA in the form gwndʾ (Shaked 1987, 261); however, we must remember that the Iranian origin of MP gund is doubtful, and the word could be of Semitic origin (see s.v. gwdʾ); furthermore, the etymon is unconvincing even on formal grounds, because the form of the second element of the compound remains unexplained. b) In fact, Fraenkel (1891, 319) believes that the Syr. word transcribes NP كنداگور, which, however, does not seem to be attested in NP (in NP there is only kundāgar learned, wise; brave, bold, Steingass 1053), nor in MP. c) Pennacchietti 1999 claims that Syr. qundāqōr derives from MP *kondāk-āwar he who bears the sceptre; MP *kondāk, in its turn, would be a loanword from Gr. κοντάκιον, lit. stick, staff. This Gr. word appears in Syriac as qwndqʾ the stick of a scroll, scroll, roll; an official writing; a short hymn (LS 676a; PS Comp. 496) ● PsC 203, 10 ◆ LS 676a; PS Suppl. 296