ĀXWARRBED

 

ĀXWARRBED, Middle Iranian term for the “Stablemaster, Royal Equerry,” lit. “lord of the manger” (see ĀXWARR), an official in charge of the royal stables and transport. It is attested in the inscription of Šāpūr I on the Kaʿba-ye Zardošt (ŠKZ Parth. 1. 24, the Mid. Pers. is lost): Wrdn ʾhwrpty “Wardan the Stablemaster,” Greek version (1.58) OUARDAN TOU EPI TĒS PATHNĒS (see A. Maricq, Syria 35, 1958, pp. 324-25, repr. in Classica et Orientalia, Paris, 1965, pp. 66-67); in Sogdian in the Mug documents as ʾʾγwyrpt (Sogdiĭskie dokumenty s gory Mug III, ed. M. N. Bogulyubov and O. I. Smirnova, Moscow, 1963, p. 89); and borrowed in Armenian as axoṙapet (Hübschmann, Armen. Etymologie, p. 93). In later Sasanian and early Islamic times there is a corresponding title Mid. Pers. āxwarr-sālār “Chief of the Stable,” NPers. āḵor-sālār (Ayādgār ī Zarērān, in Pahlavi Texts, p. 11.18; Šāh-nāma [sālār-e āḵᵛar], see M. Dabīrsīāqī et al., eds., Loḡat-nāma-ye fārsī I/3, Tehran, 1362 Š./1983, p. 288). Similar titles are *āxwarr-dār “stable-holder,” in Aramaic ʾḥwryyrʾ (S. Telegdi, JA, 1935 p. 226); *āxwarr-bān “stable-keeper,” in Arm. axoṙapan; finally, Ḵᵛārazmī (Mafātīḥ al-ʿolūm, ed. G. van Vloten, Leiden, 1895, p. 118) and Ḥamza Eṣfahānī (al-Tanbīh ʿalā ḥodūṯ al-taṣḥīf, ed. Āl-e Yāsīn, Baghdad, 1967, p. 66) list the office (dafīra) of āhor-hamār “Accountant of the Stables.” A similar office was that of the Sasanian stōrbān “horse-keeper” (Kār-nāmag, ed. Antia, p. 15 par. 2). It is not known whether the different titles implied differences in duties and rank. In later Islamic times the term mīrāḵor was used for the “Royal Marshall” or “Equerry” (W. Eilers in Acta Iranica 1, 1974, p. 286, proposes a derivation of mīr from OIr. *marya, not from Ar.-Pers. amīr) and recently mehtar or mehtar-e asb has been used to designate the groom or horse-keeper (Dehḵodā, s.v. mehtar).

 

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آخوربد   akhorbed   aakhourbed 

(A. Tafażżolī)

Originally Published: December 15, 1987

Last Updated: August 18, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 2, p. 124