The phrase "primeval time" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to the earliest or ancient times, usually before human civilization. Example: The archaeologists eagerly scoured the primeval time for any evidence of early human settlements.
One of the first characteristics of life that emerged in primeval times must have been the ability of some primitive chemical system to make copies of itself.
"If you lived in primeval times, for instance," Dr. Watanabe said, "it would be good to be very sensitized to tigers".
An examination of the way in which organisms have changed since their initial unicellular condition in primeval times shows an increase in multicellularity and therefore an increase in the size of both plants and animals.
Between these regions lie bands of sandstones and limestones of different geologic periods, many of them relicts of primeval times when large parts of central and southern England were submerged below warm seas.
These gods, the Dogon claim, are supernatural beings who came to earth from the Sirius star system in primeval times to teach the Dogon how to farm and smith, and are worshiped in their adopted spirit-animal forms.
We kvelled over books like "Man's Rise to Civilization as Shown by the Indians of North America From Primeval Times to the Coming of the Industrial State" and "The Autobiography of Malcolm X"; "The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge," by Carlos Castaneda; "Sisterhood Is Powerful," edited by Robin Morgan; "Couples," by John Updike; and "Portnoy's Complaint," by Philip Roth.
The primeval (or mythical) time to which the tribe traces its own origins is also the time of salvation and fulfillment.
One was The Elusive Moth by Ingrid Winterbach [translated from the Afrikaans by Iris Gouws and the author], and the other is Primeval and Other Times by Olga Tokarczuk [translated from the Polish by Antonia-Lloyd Jones].
The shadowy halls, whose columns were often shaped to imitate plants such as lotus or papyrus, were symbolic of the mythological marsh that surrounded the primeval mound at the time of creation.
Certain initiation ceremonies or ritual acts are said to have originated in the beginning, in mythical times, this primeval moment of inception constituting their validity.
