The nature of the antique symbol as a linguistic sign
The notion of symbol is interpreted in connection with F. de Sossure's, Ch. Pear's, A. F. Losev's and N. D. Arutunova's conceptions. The arguments for treating symbol on the basis of the main sign features, that is its arbitrary and linear character, are accounted for. Symbol is a communicative sign. The idea of a linguistic unit (a symbol) emerges on the basis of an image. It is an imaginative notion expressed by a sign. The essence of symbol as a unit of the language system is to imply more than it carries in itself, whereas the essence of a sign is pure stating, reference. Symbol is interpreted as a sign of the secondary modeling system, manifesting itself in a literary text as a verbally expressed unit.