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Perhaps I'm among the last to have found this out, but it took me quite a while to understand why, in a signature, the name was preceded by a הק׳. The Ozar Rashei Tevot book has 31 different interpretations and this one is at position #28, meaning "hakatan." A good friend who obtained his Smicha in Czechoslovakia explained that in "that part of the world" people would humbly sign their letters, books, etc., as being "hakatan" הקטן even if they were gedolim.

My question is: When did this practice start and how widespread is it?

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    Wasn't there a tanna named Shemuel HaKatan?
    – Double AA ♦
    Jan 12, 2012 at 2:44
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    @DoubleAA, that's following the name, not preceding it; and we don't know (or do we?) that he called himself that first, which is what this question's about.
    – msh210 ♦
    Jan 12, 2012 at 3:05
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    I seem to recall that Rabbi Menashe Klein's signature was מנשה הק׳ (I assume because Klein means "small").
    – msh210 ♦
    Jan 12, 2012 at 18:55
  • May I point out that the transliteration of "Rash" is really getting to me? I'm really fighting the urge to modify someone else's transliteration, but it's just wrong, isn't it? Anyone else agree or disagree?
    – Seth J
    Apr 11, 2012 at 20:58
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    Just to be annoying, I have the book אוצר ראשי תבות by Shmuel Ashkenazi and Dov Jarden. The title of the book in English reads: OZAR RASHE TEVOT.
    – Madeleine
    Apr 12, 2012 at 21:59

2 Answers 2

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In Gemara Chulin 60b it refers to Yaakov Hakoton, Shmuel Hakoton (the Tanaah), and Dovid Hakoton. For Yaakov and Dovid it quotes Pesukim as proof.

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  • See Double AA's comment of Jan 12 '12 at 2:44 to the question above, and my comment immediately beneath that comment.
    – msh210 ♦
    Apr 7, 2013 at 1:58
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    See this page of Haskomos to Siddur Sha'ar Hashomayim from the Shelah Hakodesh and you will see that some put Katan before the name and some after. hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=22560&st=&pgnum=3
    – Meir Zirkind
    Apr 9, 2013 at 21:49
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The first reference to someone being known as HaKatan is most likely Shmuel HaKatan - a Tanna who lived according to some towards the end of the second Bais HaMikdash. The Yerushalmi in Sotah Perek 9 Halacha 13 brings 2 reasons why he was known as HaKatan. One is because he acted humbly and the other is because he was smaller than Shmuel HaRamasi.

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    See my and msh210's comments to the question above.
    – Double AA ♦
    Jan 12, 2012 at 18:25

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