Joao
I understand that Anna in Irish in Aine, pronounced "Enya" hence
the popular singer who goes by that name.
The origins of the word Anna seems to be the Biblical Hannah - the
name given to the mother of the prophet Samuel. Hannah itself has an
interesting origin. It seems to have been originally Hurro-Hattic
meaning "Mother". Their chief "Goddess" was called Hannahannah
(Grandmother = literally Mother's mother). Hannahannah may have
been the name of the Goddess of Catal Huyuk - she shares the same
"throne of lions" or of "leopards", and was also guardian of the
grain of harvest. It has been suggested that Hannahannah was the
origin of the Greek Urania (Ur-Ania = All-mother), a title used for
the goddess Gaia, and later identified with her husband "Uranus" -
possibly through association with the IE *Varuna.
Anna also crops up in the Syrian Goddess, made by adding the Semitic
*t feminine ending to the name. Anat (Hebrew Anath) was the wife of
Baal, a ferocious goddess who fought great battles on behalf of her
husband (a little like Hannah's battles in favour of her son Samuel =
"the Name of God"... a memory of the goddess and her divine child
perhaps?)
Amongst the Minoans, the chief Goddess (probably the snake Goddess)
was taken into Mycenaean religion as Potnia Athanai (Mistress
At-hanai) who emerged in classical times as Pallas Athene.
It has even been suggested that Hannahanna is the name that lies
behind the Sumerian Goddess Inanna. Inanna is a non-Sumerian name,
and it has been suggested that her name, possibly Proto-Euphratean, is
related to the later Hurrian mother goddess. The Elamite and later
Persina Goddess Anahita (Anah-ita = Little Anna) may be derived from
the same source. Anahita seems to have been the Goddess who conferred
the throne on Archaemenid monarchs, in the same way that Inanna did to
the early Sumerians, and Ishtar did to Tammuz.
The widespread provinance of this name certainly seems to confirm some
of the recent thinking that the Proto-Khatti-Hurro-Urartuans were the
people who originally made the breakthrough into agriculture.
Hope this helps.
Regards
John
--- In cybalist@..., "João S. Lopes Filho" <jodan99@...> wrote:
> ANNA
> Portuguese: Ana
> Gallician: Ana
> Spanish: Ana
> Catallonian: Ana, Anna
> Basque: Ana
> French: Anne
> Occitanian:
> Rheto-roman:
> Italian: Anna
> Sardinian:
> Romanian: Anna
> English: Ann, Anne, Hannah, Anna, Annah
> Old English:
> Dutch: Anne, Antje (hyp.)
> German: Anna
> Old High German:
> Danish:
> Norwegian:
> Icelandese:
> Swedish:
> Norse:
> Gothic:
> Finnish : Anja, Anna, Anne, Annikki, Annukka, Antje
> Hungarian:
> Church Slavic:
> Russian : Anna
> Belorussian : Anna
> Ukrainian : Anna
> Polish : Anna, Hanna
> Czech : Anna
> Slovak : Anna
> Bulgarian : Anna
> Serbocroatian: Anna
> Macedonian
> Slovenian
> Lithuanian : Ona, Onyte
> Latvian : Ana
> Modern Greek
> Byzantine
> Classic Greek
> Albanese : Ana
> Armenian
> Irish
> Welsh
> Hawaiian : Ana
> Arabian