From OE 'hopa' — one of few core emotion words with no clear etymology beyond Germanic, possibly from a root meaning 'to leap forward.'
A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; grounds for believing that something good may happen.
From Old English 'hopa' (hope, expectation), from Proto-Germanic *hupan (to hope), of uncertain further etymology. Some scholars connect it to a root meaning 'to leap' or 'to spring forward' — hope as a forward leap of the spirit. Others link it to a root meaning 'to bend, to bow,' suggesting hope as an act of bowing toward the future. The connection to 'hop' (to leap) is often suggested but remains unproven. The Germanic root *hupan has no convincing cognates
Hope is one of the few major English emotion words with no clear connection outside Germanic. Unlike 'fear' (PIE *per-), 'anger' (PIE *h₂enǵʰ-), or 'love' (PIE *lewbʰ-), 'hope' appears to be a purely Germanic coinage — as though the concept needed to be invented fresh, without borrowing from an older word for something else.