ἐλπίς

See also: Ἐλπίς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *welp- (“to hope, expect”), like ἔλπω (élpō, “I cause to hope”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /el.pís/ → /elˈpis/ → /elˈpis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /el.pís/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /elˈpis/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /elˈpis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /elˈpis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /elˈpis/

Noun

ἐλπῐ́ς • (elpís) f (genitive ἐλπῐ́δος); third declension

1. hope, expectation, belief that something will happen
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 644c:

     πρὸς δὲ τούτοιν ἀμφοῖν αὖ δόξας μελλόντων, οἷν κοινὸν μὲν ὄνομα ἐλπίς, ἴδιον δέ, φόβος μὲν ἡ πρὸ λύπης ἐλπίς, θάρρος δὲ ἡ πρὸ τοῦ ἐναντίου

     pròs dè toútoin amphoîn aû dóxas mellóntōn, hoîn koinòn mèn ónoma elpís, ídion dé, phóbos mèn hē prò lúpēs elpís, thárrhos dè hē prò toû enantíou

     in addition to both of these, [each of us] also [possesses] opinions about things that will happen, for which the usual name is "expectation", and a particular [name]: the expectation before pain is fear, while [expectation] before the opposite is courage

2. object of hope
3. anxiety, boding

Declension

Third declension of ἡ ἐλπῐ́ς; τῆς ἐλπῐ́δος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἐλπῐ́ς hē elpís	τὼ ἐλπῐ́δε tṑ elpíde	αἱ ἐλπῐ́δες hai elpídes
Genitive	τῆς ἐλπῐ́δος tês elpídos	τοῖν ἐλπῐ́δοιν toîn elpídoin	τῶν ἐλπῐ́δων tôn elpídōn
Dative	τῇ ἐλπῐ́δῐ têi elpídi	τοῖν ἐλπῐ́δοιν toîn elpídoin	ταῖς ἐλπῐ́σῐ / ἐλπῐ́σῐν taîs elpísi(n)
Accusative	τὴν ἐλπῐ́δᾰ tḕn elpída	τὼ ἐλπῐ́δε tṑ elpíde	τᾱ̀ς ἐλπῐ́δᾰς tā̀s elpídas
Vocative	ἐλπῐ́ elpí	ἐλπῐ́δε elpíde	ἐλπῐ́δες elpídes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. Nominative singular -ς (-s) arose by reduction of the original cluster *-ds.

Descendants

• → Coptic: ϩⲉⲗⲡⲓⲥ (helpis)
• Greek: ελπίδα (elpída)

Further reading

• “ἐλπίς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἐλπίς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἐλπίς”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἐλπίς in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ἐλπίς”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G1680 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • anticipation idem, page 32.
  • aspiration idem, page 45.
  • comfort idem, page 145.
  • expectation idem, page 293.
  • hope idem, page 405.
  • hopefulness idem, page 405.
  • promise idem, page 653.
  • prospect idem, page 653.
  • solace idem, page 792.
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press