Shifting Sibilants
הַסְּדוּרוֹת; צְבוּרוֹת; סוירות; סוורות
(1) Moving on, at long last, to Bava Batra 69. Consider the following:
גְּמָ׳ מַאי ״אֲבָנִים שֶׁהֵן לְצׇרְכָּהּ״? הָכָא תַּרְגִּימוּ: אַבְנֵי דְאַכְפָּא. עוּלָּא אָמַר: אֲבָנִים הַסְּדוּרוֹת לְגָדֵר. וְהָא תָּנֵי רַבִּי חִיָּיא: אֲבָנִים צְבוּרוֹת לְגָדֵר! תְּנִי: ״סְדוּרוֹת״.
GEMARA: The mishna teaches that one who sells a field has sold the stones in the field that are for its use. The Gemara clarifies: What is meant by stones that are for its use? Here in Babylonia they interpreted it as follows: Stones placed on the sheaves in the field to protect them from being scattered by the wind. Ulla says: The mishna is referring to stones that are arranged for the future building of a fence for the field. The Gemara asks: But didn’t Rabbi Ḥiyya teach in a baraita that they are stones that are piled up for the future building of a fence, and not necessarily arranged? The Gemara answers: Teach that Rabbi Ḥiyya said: They are stones that are arranged for the future building of a fence.
There is something lost in translation, I think, saying “that are piled up” vs “that are arranged”. Namely, this sounds like an oral transmission error. Recall that braytot were not written down, but were recited by a Reciter / “Tanna”.
The ס and the צ are both sibilants, so we can see how one can be mistaken for the other. Similarly the daled and the bet, I can see someone mishearing. I don’t think we should look for orthographic similarities, like a daled being a resh without a moshav.
If we examine the Tosefta, we see neither. Rather, it is:
המוכר את הכרם מכר את הקנים ואת הדוקרנין ואת זמורות שקמה שבתוכו, אבל לא מכר לא את העצים ולא את האבנים סוירות, בין לנירו ובין לגדרו, ולא את זבלים ולא את קירות שקמה שבתוכו.
Tosefta Kifshuta notes a manuscript, which he establishes like:
אבל לא מכר לא את העצים ולא את האבנים סוירות, בין לנירו ובין לגדרו. בכי"ע: סוורות, וכצ"ל לפנינו. ובבבלי ס"ט א': מאי אבנים שהן לצורכה,
Let us quote Jastrow on this to wrap it up with a neat bow:
*סָוַר
(cmp. צבר, v. סַוָּאר) to pile, arrange.—Part. pass. סָווּר; f. סְווּרָה; pl. סְווּרוֹת. Tosef. B. Bath. III, 6 העצים … האבנים ס׳ וכ׳ ed. Zuck. (Var. סוררות, some ed. סוירות, corr. acc.) wood or stones piled up whether for his untilled field (for building) or for his fence; v. סָדַר a. צָבַר.
The samech is preserved. While they may have pronounced vav (waw) and bhet differently, we can still imagine a shift from the pronounced double vav to a vet.
(2) Also on 69, we see these three inquirers in a row:
בָּעֵי רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר, that is, Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedat
בָּעֵי רַבִּי זֵירָא, that is, Rabbi Zeira I
בָּעֵי רַבִּי יִרְמְיָה, who is famous for his oft unresolved inquiries.
All three end up in a teiku. But let us add the Talmudic rabbinic biographies, that Rabbi Yirmeya was a student of Rabbi Zeira I, who was a student of Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedat.