To emphasize that the atmosphere in any team depends on the personality and behavior of the leader, they say the well-known phrase: "The fish rots from the head." The proverb exists not only in Russian, but also in almost all languages of the world.
Origins of metaphor
There are several versions of the origin of this statement. Most often, it is attributed to the ancient Greek scientist and writer Plutarch, who lived at the end of the 1st-beginning of the 2nd century AD. Presumably, the expression "the fish rots from the head", the meaning of which originally had a figurative meaning, is found in the voluminous work of the ancient philosopher "Comparative Lives". In this work, Plutarch gave characteristics to the outstanding personalities of his time - Greek and Roman politicians, rulers and generals.
In studies conducted by foreign linguists, it is argued that the phrase "the fish rots from the head" was first mentioned in the literature of the 17th century. According to Professor Wolfgang Mieder, author of The Meaning of Parables: From Traditional Wisdom to Notoriousstereotypes”, the emergence of a saying that sounds literally like “the smell of rotting fish begins to spread from the head” dates back to 1674. The expression is mentioned in a treatise called "An Account of Travels in New England". The medieval meaning of the metaphor also had an allegorical interpretation: problems in a team of people united by some common cause arise through the fault of the bosses.
Is this saying biologically correct?
Opening a school science textbook, you can read that fish, like most living beings, have a brain. This organ, however, is very poorly developed, so the behavior of cold-blooded inhabitants of rivers and seas is based on unconditioned reflexes. If you think about the literal meaning of the expression “the fish rots from the head”, then we can assume that the brain of dead crucians or pikes begins to decompose first of all.
But far from it. Any connoisseur of the anatomical structure of fish will say: putrefactive processes occur in the intestines, that is, in the section of the fish carcass inhabited by bacteria and microbes that enter the body with food. Indeed, stale fish is easily recognizable by its swollen belly and softened skin, through which the costal bones are visible. Was the ancient Greek philosopher wrong, and after him were the medieval travelers wrong, claiming that the fish rots from the head?
Popular observations
Citizens, accustomed to buying fish in stores already gutted or freshly frozen, may not know the way to determine the quality of this he althy product. fishing enthusiasts andexperienced housewives who prefer to buy carp and bream in the market know that the freshness of fish can be recognized long before the fish belly begins to swell.
To do this, it is enough to lift the gill covers and examine the respiratory organs. Red and pinkish gills are evidence that the fish was caught no earlier than one or two days. White, and even more gray color of the gills indicates the staleness of the product. It is not uncommon to catch a subtle, but rather unpleasant odor from under the head caps of fish beginning to deteriorate.
Recall that in the writings of Plutarch and later variations, the phrase "the fish rots from the head" sounds like "the fish starts to smell from above." Based on this, the validity of this statement becomes obvious. We can safely say that there is no discrepancy between the literal and figurative meaning of the proverb.
