ἐλαφρία

From the study of 2 Corinthians 1:17

Range of meaning

Literally "lightness". It comes from the adjective ἐλαφρός, "light in weight, nimble". Applied to character, it means levity, fickleness, instability: a person whose decisions have no weight and who drifts with whatever is convenient. BDAG gives "vacillation, levity."

Against the English

KJV "lightness" is literal but now sounds like physical weight or cheerfulness. BSB "carelessly" moves the idea toward sloppiness or not paying attention. NIV "fickle", ESV and NASB "vacillating", and WEB "fickleness" are closer to the charge, which was unreliability, not carelessness.

How it drifted

English "lightness" and "levity" (from the Latin levitas in the Vulgate's levitate usus sum) have shifted toward humour or light-heartedness. "Carelessly" brings in a different fault: not thinking enough, when the charge was not keeping one's word.

Used elsewhere in the period

The noun is rare. In the New Testament it appears only here. The adjective from the same root is more common: Matt 11:30 ("my burden is light") and, in this same letter, 2 Cor 4:17 ("our light affliction"). In ordinary Greek, "light" applied to a person could mean unstable or light-headed, and the more usual noun for the trait was ἐλαφρότης. Ancient moral writers often attacked fickleness as a failing of character, the opposite of the constancy expected of a trustworthy man.