A "koteret" (כותרת) is a line in capital letters that appears above a news item in a newspaper and briefly tells what the news item is about. This word is very old, and it existed long before newspapers were printed in the world. It appears in the Navi in the description of the Beis Hamikdash plan, where it is written: "עַמֻּדִים שְׁנַיִם וְגֻלֹּת הַכֹּתָרֹת אֲשֶׁר עַל רֹאשׁ הָעַמֻּדִים שְׁתָּיִם" - "Two pillars and two capitals that were on top of the pillars" (1 Kings 7:41). That is, above the pillars there is a 'koteres' (capital). This part of the pillar is called that because it is a kind of crown that adorns the pillar. A flower also has a "koteret" (corolla) similar to a crown, and the leaves of the "koteret" (corolla) are called petals.
A crown is the symbol that a certain person is appointed king. When he becomes king, there is a coronation ceremony. A person who heads an Arab settlement was formerly called a "mukhtar." Both 'keter' (crown) and 'koteret' (title/heading/capital/corolla) are related to the original meaning of the root כתר, which means to surround, to go in a circle. When the army or police surround a certain place to catch someone, they encircle the place. In military language, the situation in which the army surrounds a place and does not allow anyone to leave is called "keter" (siege). In Aramaic, כתר means to wait. The expression from the Torah 'כתר לי זעיר' (Iyov 36:2) means 'Wait for me a little, I'm coming'.
There are all kinds of "koteret" (headlines) in the newspaper. The main "koteret" (headline) is the important "koteret" (headline) that opens the newspaper. About twenty-five years ago, a weekly newspaper called "Koteret Rashit" (Main Headline) was published in Israel. When they write prominently about a certain person in the newspaper, they say that he made headlines or that he caught a "koteret" (headline).
It can be said that a book cover is also a kind of 'koteret' (title), and therefore we call a new book "kotar" (a title). A distinction must be made between 'kotar' (title) and copy. For example, the "kotar" (title) "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was printed in one hundred thousand copies.
There are many expressions in modern Hebrew that originate in the Tanach, but their meaning is different. This is also what happened to the expression "gulat hakoteret" (the crowning glory). In the Navi, it is part of the Beis Hamikdash. Today, when they say about something that it is 'gulat hakoteret' (the crowning glory), they mean that it is the most important and special thing that a person or group of people does.
