Time&Eternity

16 chapter 1
cussed. Furthermore, all passages that center on the idea of “eternity”
[Ewigkeit] have been included in the study. In this case, words such as “eternity/eternities”
[Ewigkeit(en)], “eternal one” [Ewiger], and “eternal”
[ewig(lich)] were decisive.
Frequently, recurring phrases and refrains have been considered only
once. In order to prevent the number of passages being examined from becoming
boundless, the expression “forever” [all(e)zeit] in the sense of “always”
[immer], as well as other time adverbs in primarily unstressed passages,
were not given particular attention. 27
In the following discussion, the expression time indication [Zeitindikation]
generally characterizes words and word combinations that articulate a
concept of time and/or eternity, whereas time terminology [Zeitterminologie]
means words or word combinations that speak explicitly of “Zeit” or
“Zukunft,” “tid” or “framtid,” or “time”/“age” or “future.” Correspondingly,
eternity terminology [Ewigkeitsterminologie] includes the concepts “eternity
or eternities” [Ewigkeit(en)] and “eternal” [ewig(lich)] or different forms
of “eternal” [ewig] and “eternity” [Ewigkeit]. In the English hymns, a distinction
is made between strictly literal eternity terminology, which contains
the concepts “eternal,” “everlasting,” “endless”/“unending,” and “eternity,”
and other eternity terminology that includes “ever” and “evermore.”
Concepts such as “day” [Tag] and “night” [Nacht], “morning” [Morgen] and
“evening” [Abend], “year” [Jahr], “hour” [Stunde], “today” [heute] and “yesterday”
[gestern], as well as the names of the seasons, are occasionally
grouped together under the concept everyday terminology [Alltagsterminologie]
or seasonal terminology [Jahreszeitterminologie].
The function of the quantitative analysis is to provide orientation. The
inclusion of numerical figures should help the reader to see emphases and
proportions. The quantitative analysis thus also helps to ensure that the text
examples selected for the qualitative analysis are representative to a certain
degree. The quantitative analysis was done nonelectronically. No guarantee
can be made for 100 percent accuracy, although the results should be considered
sufficiently solid. When I speak of “passages with time indications,”
this is generally synonymous with “stanzas with time indications.” Numerous
stanzas contain several time indications that are combined with one another,
repeated, or juxtaposed; these appear in the overall calculation, however,
as a respective single passage. Nevertheless, during the individual
analysis of time terminology, eternity terminology, everyday terminology,
and seasonal terminology, as well as in the analysis of final stanzas, several
time indications within the same stanza have been considered individually.
In the qualitative analysis, I occasionally depart from the semantic fields
established in the quantitative analysis. Translations have been kept as liter-