Eiding and Abetting (article summary)

Here is my Jewish Link article from the past week, as we begin the tractate of Avodah Zarah. It can be read here on Substack, on the Jewish Link website, and as a flipbook. A brief outline after the image:

1. Avodah Zarah opens with the statement that before Eideihem, Idolatrous Festivals of non-Jews, certain commerce is restricted.
   

2. Rav and Shmuel argue whether that word in the Mishnah is spelled with an initial ayin or aleph. The ayin seems obvious, but the gemara gives justification for each spelling, where it carries a negative meaning, by citing verses.
   

3. Aside from Rav and Shmuel, first-generation Amoraim, we would like to date the analysis in the sugya. Is the Stamma really late, perhaps even Savoraic or Geonic?
   
   On the one hand, we have Rav Huna bereih deRav Yehoshua, a fifth-generation Amora, react to it. Also, this enterprise of “this girsa works out well; that girsa works out well” is very fifth-generation Amora in character.
   
   On the other hand, it seems plausible we first have Amoraim talk, and then the Stamma back-fills an analysis and background, in which case it’s later.
   

4. Looking at the parallel Yerushalmi, Rav and Shmuel actually debate several Mishnayot and whether they have aleph or ayin. Unlike Bavli, we know who says which. Also, there is no consistency as to who says ayin or aleph in these Mishnayot.
   

5. There are then three possibilities to account for this change:

   1. Weakening of gutturals, especially in certain places in Israel as we see from Galilean Aramaic, so that it is an actual error

   2. Because gutturals can indeed switch off, there may be two valid Hebrew roots, one with an ayin and one with an aleph.

   3. This is a cacophemism, which is the opposite of a euphemism. Since this pertains to idolatry, specifically אידיהם with an aleph is a deliberate corruption to denigrate idol worship. This is still lo mitshtabash, because it was a deliberate change.
      

6. Finally, from a starting point where אידיהם is a cacophemism, Rav Huna bereih deRav Yehoshua weighed in to suggest how עֵידֵיהֶן could also be a cacophemism.