Ancient Greek · Greek
ἐλπίς
elpis
Nearest English gloss
hope / expectation
What the gloss loses
English “hope” is almost always warm. Elpis can be the thing left in Pandora’s jar, and scholars still argue whether that was a mercy or a further cruelty. The gloss decides the argument in advance.
Etymology
Elpis is expectation directed at a future. In older Greek it can be merely anticipation. including dread. It is not automatically optimistic.
History
Pauline elpis is oriented toward a future the writer does not treat as already in hand. Later Christian homiletics sometimes made hope into a mood. This Guide keeps it as an open future, not a prediction.
How can the future remain open without becoming prediction?