Land from Bei (Rabbi) Chiyya

Recently, we saw the following case in the gemara, Bava Batra 61b:

הָהוּא דְּאָמַר לֵיהּ לְחַבְרֵיהּ: ״אַרְעָא דְּבֵי חִיָּיא מְזַבֵּנְנָא לָךְ״. הֲוַאי לֵיהּ תַּרְתֵּי אַרְעָתָא דַּהֲוָה מִתְקַרְיָן ״דְּבֵי חִיָּיא״. אָמַר רַב אָשֵׁי: חֲדָא אֲמַר לֵיהּ, תַּרְתֵּי לָא אֲמַר לֵיהּ.

The Gemara relates: There was a certain man who said to another: I am selling you land of the house of Ḥiyya, but there were two plots of land that were called that of the house of Ḥiyya, and the Sages deliberated as to whether both were included in this sale or only one. Rav Ashi said: He said to him that he was selling him one plot of land, and he did not say to him that he was selling him two plots of land, as he employed a singular term. Therefore, only one is included in the sale.

Some manuscripts not only have Rav Ashi said, but that the case came before Rav Ashi, and Rav Ashi said.

Artscroll, in a footnote, says that these are lands belonging to R’ Chiyya. And they point to a Rashbam who has that girsa. Thus, looking at the dibur hamatchil of Rashbam, we have:

ארעא דבי רבי חייא - שקנה מרבי חייא ארעא לשון יחיד אמר ליה ויטול הלוקח הפחותה שבשתיהן דיד בעל השטר על התחתונה ומפרש גמרא ואזיל:

Indeed, I can find manuscripts with that reading. Thus, Florence 8-9 has it and Munich 95 had it initially but erased it. Hamburg 165 doesn’t have R’ but does have the aforementioned atu lekameih deRav Ashi.

Oxford 369 has it (though it uniquely repeats the land ownership, and the first time just has the land of R’ Chiyya, omitting the de-vei). Paris 1337 has it. Escorial doesn’t. Vatican 115b has it.

Nobody spells out the title R’ as Rabbi, but that would be the presumption. It does not make sense for this to be bei Rabbi Chiyya, because the transitional Tanna / Amora Rabbi Chiyya is very early (before 1st generation like Rav), while Rav Ashi who is hearing this case is sixth generation. Yes, maybe the lands lasted with this title for that span, and maybe the case didn’t come before him but he is just weighing in, but those are teirutzim. It still is forced.

Rather, de-vei Chiyya makes sense. Plenty of non-rabbinic folks were named Chiyya, so this is a sixth generation farmer we are dealing with.

So, where did Rabbi Chiyya come from? Simply put, the similarity between daled and resh means that דבי looks a lot like רבי. Add the famousness of Rabbi Chiyya and a scribe’s reluctance, born of respect, to deprive an Amora of his proper title, and we’ve turned it into Rabbi Chiyya.