ἀρκαπάτης <Iranian/Semitic?; Roman period>
👉 ἀρκαπάτης m. – a title of an official (P.Dura 20.4: 2nd c. CE), ἀργαπéτης m. (attested as acc. sg. -ην) ‘id.’ (PAT 286 and 289 = IGRR 3 1044 and 1043: 3rd c. CE; cf. also PAT 287 = IGRR 3 1042: 3rd c. CE), as well as, probably, ἀρχαπέτης (attested in gen. sg. -ου) ‘id.’ (Petr. Patr. p. 135.5; in ed.: Ἀρχαπέτου). The form *ἀργαβίδης (quoted as a variant) is not attested (Theophyl. Sim. 3.18 has only the proper name Ἀρσακίδης with two variae lectiones: Ἀρτακίδης and Ἀρσαβίδης). As the spiritus asper was not marked in late Greek inscriptions, we cannot determine if the title was pronounced as ἁργ-/ἁρκ- or ἀργ-/ἀρκ-.
⚠ The form ἀρκαπάτης is attested in a parchment found in Dura-Europos, an ancient city on the Euphrates in Parthia (P.Dura 20.4), while ἀργαπéτης appears in bilingual Greek–Palmyrene inscriptions from Palmyra; its Palmyrene equivalent is ʾrgbṭʾ (PAT 286 and 289; cf. also PAT 287).
🅔 A Middle Iranian title of a high dignitary with the meaning ‘chief of taxes’: Middle Persian hlgwpt ‘chief of taxes’, Parthian hrkpty ‘id.’. The Iranian word was borrowed into other languages: Jewish Aramaic ʾalqapṭā, ʾrqwbṭ, ʾrqpṭʾ, Mandaic arqabata, Palmyrene ʾrgbṭʾ, Syriac ʾrgbṭʾ, Armenian harkapet. Originally, it is a compound: cf. Middle Persian harg ‘duty, tribute; work, effort’ and -bed (suffix) ‘-lord, -master’ (this is a common suffix, e.g. Middle Persian mānbed ‘master of the house, house-lord’ with mān ‘house, dwelling’). The existence of two variants ἀρκαπάτης and ἀργαπéτης seems to indicate that they were borrowed independently (whereas ἀρχ- in ἀρχαπέτης is rather a result of a folk-etymology to ἀρχή f. ‘power, sovereignty; office’ etc.). It is not clear if they were adapted from Middle Persian (e.g. from early Middle Persian *harkpet); perhaps ἀρκαπάτης comes from Parthian hrkpty and ἀργαπéτης from Palmyrene ʾrgbṭʾ? Cf. a hypothesis that the Semitic forms of the title were not taken directly from Iranian, but from Greek (however, note that the psilosis h- > Ø occurred in Parthian). Moreover, cf. an old and mistaken explanation of the Iranian title as ‘chief of citadel’ or ‘governor of a city’; the first part of the compound would be Middle Iranian *arg ‘citadel, fortress’ (compared to Modern Persian arg ‘a small citadel within a larger one’ and/or even Latin arx ‘citadel’); however, the Middle Persian and Parthian forms with the initial h- later disproved this etymology.
📖 Data: CPD: 18 and 43; DJBA: 136; DJPA: 77; DNWSI: 103; GIPP: 23 and 52; MD: 39; NDAE: 393; SL: 94. Ref.: Brust 2008: 115-117; Gnoli 2007: 95-113; Herman 2010: 65-77; ILS: 115f.; Khurshudian 1998: 116-124; Schmitt 1982; Schwartz 2004; Szemerényi 1975: 367-375.