The Connotation/Denotation Alternation in the Armenian Lexicon of the Hellenizing School

The translational procedures of the Hellenizing school active in Armenia in the sixth century AD are characterized & the lexical choice by translators is described in terms of a choice between denotation vs connotation. The former focuses on the restrictive semantics & permanent meaning of a word & its unambiguous relationship to an external referent, whereas the latter uses extrasemantic associations enriching the basic meaning of a word. Two translation samples are analyzed for the lexical strategies adopted by Armenian translators of Greek texts & it is found that connotation is favored over denotation. Z. Dubiel