ABSTRACT
Paremiology or the study of proverbs is an international science based on synchronic and diachronic research methods. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the investigation of the origin, history, dissemination, function, and meaning of an individual proverb such as “Big fish eat little fish.” What at first glance might appear to be only another trite piece of traditional wisdom in the language of a particular region or country quickly proves to have roots that extend back to the beginning of civilization. Just like individual basic words, certain proverbs can be traced back to the first written records of antiquity, and in some cases it can be shown that such a proverb was transmitted from one century and tongue to another so that it is now found throughout virtually all the world.
