ܡܰܘܗܦܳܛܳܐ mwhpṭʾ mawhpāṭā Mobed, chief of the Magi; ܡܲܘܗܦܵܛܐܹ mwhpṭʾ mawhpāṭē (plur.)
Allotrope: ܡܘܦܛܐ mwpṭʾ. Derivative: ܡܲܘܗܦܵܛܘܼܬܵܐ mwhpṭwtʾ mawhpāṭūṯā the office of the chief Magian
Early MP magupat [mgwpt'] chief of the Magi, or chief Magian, the head of the Zoroastrian priesthood (Nyberg 122); MP mowbed [mgwpt'] Mazdean priest (CPD 56); ManParth. mgbyd /maγbed/ mobed (Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 228); NP mūbid, mawbad, mūbad chief of the Magi (Steingass 1340); NP mōγbad a high priest of the Magi (ibid. 1346). Nyberg 122 observes that Syr. mwpṭʾ, mwhpṭʾ, mwhpbṭʾ are loanwords from the SW Iranian form of the term, namely /mōvpat/ (> NP mōbad), together with Arm. LW mowpet (Eišē; Hübschmann AG 195, no. 410); on the contrary, the NW form of the Iranian word, namely /mōgpat/ (cf. ManParth. mgbyd), was the model of Arm. LW mogpet (cf. Hübschmann, cit.) and it is continued by NP mōγbad. The Syr. forms mwhpṭʾ and mwbd (see the next entry) represent a case of reborrowing; mwhpṭʾ is older. The graph h in mwhpṭʾ and mwhpṭwtʾ seems to represent a lenition of the voiced velar stop /g/ ● mwhpṭʾ am 2, 158, 13; MAMQ 65, 1; Mar 34, 5; MP 25, 7; plur. Syn 77, 14; mwpṭʾ JšJS 564, 6; mwhpṭwtʾ Jšdd ev 1, 23, 1 ◆ LS 376a; PS Suppl. 188; Nöldeke 1879, 450 f.; Chabot 1902, 329 n. 4
In MIr. the word for "magus" is attested in two forms, namely the NW *mflg (® Arm. LW mog, mogpet), NP muγ, mōγ a Magian or fire-worshipper (Steingass 1278 and 1346; Horn 220), and the SW *mow (cf. CPD 56; transcribed mōv by Nyberg 122, mog by Gignoux – Gyselen 1982, 16), attested in MP mowbed, Arm. LW mow, mowpet. Note that we have a case of reborrowing also in Armenian, where either mow, mowpet (← MP) or mog, mogpet (← Parth.) are attested: cf. Bolognesi 1960, 53. Henning 1937a, 85; Kurshudian 1998, 70, 127; Gignoux 1980a, 196 ff.; as regards Parth. /g/ versus MP /h/ cf. also Widengren 1960, 94; Horn 220. As to the occurrence of MP mog, mogbed, and mog mogān in Sasanian seals cf. Gignoux – Gyselen 1982, 16.