Is αφέντης a noun (master, ruler) or participle (having dismissed)?
αφέντες: Nominative plural form of αφέντης (aféntis).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/αφέντες#Greek
Mark 4:36
ἀφέντες τὸν ὄχλον
having dismissed Verb - aorist, participle, active, nominative, masculine, plural
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/mark/4-36.htm
It says here that αφέντης is a masculine noun:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/αφέντης
And that it’s a Byzantine Greek word. It didn’t exist at the time of the New Testament.
It existed, but was spelled αὐθέντης back when the diphthong was pronounced, and actually shows up once in the LXX. Plural would have been with -αι though.
There is a NT use of the verb αὐθεντεῖν, and I once saw the argument made that Paul doesn’t allow women to “murder” men in church, preferring them to stay silent instead.