Time – a snappy thing. Semantic analysis of selected verbs of movement in proverbs about time

Abstract

The text provides a typological and functional analysis of the movement verbs expressed in the texts of proverbs the subject of which is time–an abstract metaphorical concept. Thestudy is based on the semantic frame paremic analysisin which time is featured as an object capable of moving. These are figurative representations of movement, which are the exponents of the fictitious movement. It has been shown that the components of the scenery created by the environment (embodied as water, air, alleged surface of the nose), direction of movement (segmental, horizontal, vertical), and method of contact with the surface are the constants in the semantic frame of such descriptions of displacement. The result of the ongoing research is the conclusion that time is conceptualized by humans as a dynamic concept, associated with movement (even equated with change), which clearly illustrates the current belief that Time does not stand still.