"The Way of the Land", or "Ethics" are common translations of the hebrew concept of "Derekh Eretz", which every scholar is expected to embody prior to taking up the study of Torah. Thus this "little book on ethics". The name is misleading in more than one respect; the word "zuta" (small) would seem to indicate that it is a shorter version of the treatise "Derekh Eretz Rabbah," which is not the case, the two having little in common. However, this name is ancient: Rashi called the treatise "Massekhet Derekh Eretz," while the Tosafists likewise called it "Hilkot Derekh Eretz". The designation "zuta" is probably of later.