Letter 20. To Pope Damasus.

Jerome's reply to the foregoing. Exposing the error of Hilary of Poitiers, who supposed the expression to signify "redemption of the house of David," he goes on to show that in the gospels it is a quotation from cxviii. 25 and that its true meaning is "save now" (so A.V.). "Let us," he writes, "leave the streamlets of conjecture and return to the fountain-head. It is from the Hebrew writings that the truth is to be drawn." Written at Rome a.d. 383. The below translation made by ChatGPT 3.5 from this Latin text.

What the voice of Hosanna signifies according to the Hebrew source, and why this Hebrew word, as it is among the Hebrews, has been left among all languages, it teaches.

1. Various interpretations.— Many have invented different meanings for this phrase, of which our Hilary in his Commentary on Matthew (c. 21. n. 3) stated as follows: Hossana is expressed in Hebrew and means "redemption of the house of David." First, redemption in the Hebrew language is interpreted as Pheduth: then, the house of David has not been omitted in this place, as is clear to everyone. Others have thought that Hosanna signifies "glory." This glory is called Chabod; but some call it grace, since grace is called Thoda or Anna.

2. It is necessary to go back to the Hebrew source. Therefore, omitting the streams of opinions, we must return to the source from which the Evangelists took it. For, just as we cannot find this in any Greek or Latin codices: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets: He shall be called a Nazarene" (Matt. 2:23), and this: "Out of Egypt I have called My son" (Ibid. v. 15); so also now the truth must be expressed from the Hebrew codices, from which the common people and especially a concordance of children broke forth into this cry, as Matthew says: "And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying: Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest" (Matt. 21:9). But Mark put it thus: "And they cried out, saying: Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Blessed be the kingdom of our father David that cometh: Hosanna in the highest" (Mark 11:9). But John agrees with the other two in the same voice: "And they cried out, saying: Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel" (John 12:13). Only Luke did not use the word "Hosanna," but in the rest of the interpretation part he agrees: "Blessed be the king who cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory on high" (Luke 19:38). Therefore, as we have said, the very Hebrew words must be given, and the opinion of all interpreters must be set forth, so that the reader may find for himself, by the reconsideration of all, what he is to think concerning this matter.

3. The opinion of Hebrew interpreters of the text. In the 117th Psalm, where we read "O Lord save me, O Lord cause me to prosper", and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord", in Hebrew it is read "Anna Adonai, Osianna, Anna Adonai Aslianna; Baruch Abba Basem Adonai". Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the Fifth Edition express it thus, lest we appear to change anything in Latin: "O Lord indeed, save me indeed, O Lord indeed, cause me to prosper indeed, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord". Only the Sixth Edition with the Septuagint interpreters agrees in such a way that where others have placed "O Lord indeed", they have written "O". And because "Osianna", which we incorrectly say as "Osanna" due to ignorance, is signified by all interpretation as saving or cause to be saved, now it is a concern what "Anna" alone signifies without the added "saving". And it should be known that in this place "Anna" is said three times; and the first and second are written with the same letters, Aleph, Nun, He, but the third is written He, Nun, He. Therefore Symmachus, who had agreed with all the interpretations in the 117th Psalm, in order to give us a clearer understanding, interpreted the 114th Psalm, where it says: "O Lord, deliver my soul," thus: "I beseech you, Lord, deliver my soul." But where the Seventy translated "O" and "he" as "I beseech you," and Aquila and other editions translate as "O indeed," in Hebrew it is written "Anna," but so that it has Aleph at the beginning, not He. From which we realize that if "Anna" is written from Aleph, it means "I beseech"; but if it is written from He, it means a conjunction or interjection which the Greeks put as "indeed" in "soson dè," whose Latin expression does not convey the meaning.

4. But since these minutiae and secrets of this kind of dispute, due to the barbarism of the language as well as the letters, give trouble to the reader, I come to a summary of the explanation, so as to speak of the one hundred and seventeenth Psalm, which manifestly prophesies of Christ and was most frequently read in the synagogues of the Jews, whence it was also better known to the peoples, that these verses are assumed: that he who was promised from the lineage of David, should come to save Israel, with David saying, 'The stone which the builders rejected, has become the head of the corner. It is from the Lord. This is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; let us exult and be glad in it. O Lord, save me: O Lord, make me prosper well: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord: the Lord is God and he has shone upon us ' (Psal. 117. 22. etc.). Therefore, the Scripture of the Evangelists mentions the Pharisees and Scribes being moved by this indignation, that they would see the people understand the prophecy of the Psalm regarding Christ as fulfilled and crying out with Osianna, the son of David, and saying to him: "Do you hear what they are saying?" and Jesus replied to them: "Have you never read: 'Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?'" (Matthew 21, Luke 19, John 12) confirming the 117th Psalm with the testimony of the 8th Psalm. And as for that which could be easily expressed, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," the Scripture of all the Evangelists agrees. But as for the word "Osianna," since they could not translate it into Greek, as we see happened with "Alleluia" and "Amen," among others, they put the Hebrew word itself, saying "Osianna." Therefore, Luke, who was the most learned in the Greek language of them all, as he was a physician and who wrote his Gospel in Greek for the Greeks, since he saw that he could not convey the sense of the original, received the better course to keep silence on the matter, lest he should raise a question in the mind of the reader.

5. In summary, just as we have in the Latin language certain interjections, such as 'vah' for insulting, and 'heu' for grieving, and when we wish to impose silence, we restrain our breath with clenched teeth and produce only a hiss, sounding 'sith'; so the Hebrews have among other characteristics of their language an interjection, when they want to implore the Lord they put the verb expressing their emotional state and say 'Anna, Domine' which the Septuagint translated as 'o Lord'. Therefore, 'Osi' means 'save us'; 'Anna' is the interjection of the supplicant. If you want to make a compound word from these two, you will say 'Osianna', or as we say, 'Osanna', with the middle vowel letter removed; as we usually do in the verses of Virgil, when we climb up for a fallen attempt on the spirit and say 'men incoepto'. For Aleph, the first letter of the following word, coming after the final letter of the preceding word Ain, excludes it. Therefore, if we return to the question's origin, where we read in Latin, "O Lord, save me; O Lord, please me well: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord", according to the Hebrew sense, we can read: "I pray, Lord, save me; I pray, Lord, prosper, I pray: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Now "Save", it is said, so that we may understand your people Israel, or the world in general. Finally Matthew, who wrote the Gospel in Hebrew, put it thus, "Osanna Barrama", which means "Hosanna in the highest": which, when the Savior is born, salvation reaches up to heaven, that is, peace is made not only on earth but also in heaven, so that it may finally be said: "My sword has been drunk in heaven" (Isaiah 34.5).

6. I have briefly and succinctly described these things, in accordance with the mediocrity of my understanding. However, let your Grace know that no annoyance should arise in reading these types of discussions; for we could easily have made up something that would solve the question with one word, as we have shown others have done. Rather, it is more appropriate to labor for the sake of truth and to attune our ears to a foreign language, than to give a fictitious opinion from another language.