OSANNA. - A Hebrew acclamation that entered the liturgy following its use in the New Testament (Mt. 21, 9. 15; Mk. 11, 9; Jn. 12, 13).
In Latin one finds hosanna or osanna (Greek ὕσπνά), a reproduction of the Hebrew hḗfāh-ndā' "save, we pray" (cf. Ps. 118, 25). In practice, as appears from liturgical usage, both Christian and Jewish, the original meaning had been attenuated into a simple exclamation of joy and good wishes, similar to our "hurrah!", as St. Augustine already notes (In Ioannem tract., 51, 2: PL 35, 1764). St. Jerome, at the request of Pope Damasus, composed a short treatise on the word o. Having reviewed certain impossible meanings, devised by people ignorant of Hebrew, examining the various Greek versions and discussing Hebrew philology, he gave the exact explanation (Ep. 20, 1-6: CSEL, LIV, pp. 104-10).
In the Jewish liturgy o. was repeated especially at the feast of Tabernacles, whose seventh day was also called "the great o."; in the Christian liturgy, besides in the "trisagion" of the Mass, the term returns in a particular way on Palm Sunday. Already the Didaché (10, 6) testifies to the liturgical use of this word. The ancient custom of greeting bishops with this acclamation has been lost, however (cf. St. Jerome, In Matthaeum, 21, 15: PL 26, 158).
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Angelo Penna