Time and Other Temporal Terms in Polish Proverbs

Abstract

From the New Book of Proverbs and Proverbial Polish Expressions edited by Julian Krzyżanowski, proverbs and proverbial expressions containing the word “time” and other various temporal terms were collected. The aim of the article was to describe paremiological works of folk culture, taking into account the semantic (what image of time – maybe other temporal concepts), functional (purposes for which they were used in everyday life, what clues gave what were proverbs based on a temporal noun) and structural (temporal paremies, like all such constructions, have a specific ossified structure, fixed syntactic schemes) aspects. In addition to proverbs based on the lexeme of time, time measures (names of time segments, seasons, names of months and days), calendar proverbs and other temporal terms are described. Among the words of the thematic field of time there are about 150 lexemes - names of time – names of time periods, incl. general names, names of seasons, months, days of the week. The beliefs constituted and communicated in the texts of folk culture refer, inter alia, to man's idea of time as being omnipotent against which man is powerless; something powerful that a human being cannot resist. Time is endowed with the attributes of the supreme being. Proverbs show the inevitability of the passage of time and the accompanying aging processes of all living creatures. The construction of proverbs makes them easier to remember, e.g. by building rhymes. Paremias can take the form of comparisons, antitheses, metaphors or allegories conveying some general thought, a reference to specific situations or life experience of a person.