3

This is stemming from a question on BH-SE. Are faith (πίστις) and hope (ἐλπίς) related linguistically? Is it at all possible that ἐλπίς is actually el/eli + πίστις or something + faith? If not, is there any insight from linguistics into the differentiation between these two words?

Improve this question
10
  • 3
    Probly not. According to the AHD of PIE roots, πίστις comes from the PIE root *bheidh, while ἐλπίζω comes from PIE *wel.
    – jlawler
    Nov 25 '14 at 0:33
  • 3
    Can I ask that the words from that exotic language be rendered in IPA, as well as in their own obscure orthography?
    – Gaston Ümlaut
    Nov 25 '14 at 1:36
  • 3
    @GastonÜmlaut Seriously? The Greek alphabet is still in use today, it's taught in high school in dozens of countries, it's used in math and is a parent of both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. "Obscure" might be a bit much. This is a site for linguistics after all!
    – terdon
    Nov 25 '14 at 11:16
  • 1
    Not much point in putting Classic Greek in IPA. Nobody would understand it then, since the language has no native speakers and no speech community, and any pronunciations would be reconstructions.
    – jlawler
    Nov 25 '14 at 18:53
  • 1
    ἐλπίζω would be /˨ɛl˦pi˨zdɔ:/. Or should I put the tone signs after their syllables?
    – fdb
    Nov 26 '14 at 11:45
9

These words are not considered to be related.

πίστις ‘faith, trust’ and the verb πείθομαι ‘to trust, obey, be persuaded’ come from Indo-European *bhidh-, related to Latin fides, with *bh- > *ph- > p according to Grassmann’s law.

ἐλπίς ‘hope’, ἐλπίζω, ἔλπομαι ‘to hope’, is from Indo-European *uelp-, perhaps cognate with Latin voluptas. There is no prefix involved.

(Partial overlap with jlawler.)

Improve this answer
2
  • "Grassmann's law, named after its discoverer Hermann Grassmann, is a dissimilatory phonological process in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit which states that if an aspirated consonant is followed by another aspirated consonant in the next syllable, the first one loses the aspiration" --Wikipedia.
    – Sarah
    Nov 25 '14 at 0:55
  • 1
    Yes, that is correct.
    – fdb
    Nov 25 '14 at 0:57
1

I would edit the question but it wouldn't make much sense after.

  1. So, let me explain that faith is πίστις but hope is not ἐλπίζω but ελπίς. Ελπίζω is the verb not the noun.
  2. The etymology of those two words is not related:
    ἐλπίς < ἔλπω (make someone have hope)
    πίστη < πείθω

as you can see. As for the conjugation it self is also different:
ελπίς (nominative) -> ελπίδος (genitive)
πίστις (nominative) -> πίστεως (genitive)

Improve this answer
1
  • I edited the question based on what you said. Thank you for your help and answer.
    – Sarah
    Nov 25 '14 at 15:59

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.