What does the word Hosanna mean?

Answer 1

In Hebrew this is 2 words, usually hyphenated:

הושיעה־נא (Hoshaʿ-na) = "Please help"

Na is a particle that is attached to commands to soften them, in the way that we add the word "please"

Christians have made this into a single word, and converted it to Greek pronunciation "Hosanna," and translate it as save we ask.

Note:

In Jewish liturgy, the word is applied specifically to the Hosha-na Service, a cycle of prayers from which a selection is sung each morning during Sukkot, the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles. The complete cycle is sung on the seventh day of the festival, which is called Hoshana Rabbah (הושענא רבא, "Great Hosha-na".

Answer 2

It is found in Psalm 118:25 which is quoted by the crowd when they welcome Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:9). It literally means "save now", but has become over time a word of praise.

Answer 3

Hosanna is a word inthe Christian tradition that means "praise" and is applied to Jesus who is God who dwells in the high heavens.

Catholic AnswerIt literally means "save me" from the Hebrew. But it is "save me" expressed in great joy, and that joy is expressed to God (the highest).

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

Hosanna. A Hebrew shout of joy and triumph, taken from the Psalms, and saying "Save us, we pray." During the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles it was recited or chanted daily by the priest during the procession around the altar. When certain verses were said, the Trumpet sounded, palm branches were waved, and the Hoshiana was repeatedly shouted as an exultation of joy. In present day Masses it is twice proclaimed at the Sanctus, by the priest and the faithful, and either sung or recited. It is said at the distribution of palms and during Palm Sunday's solemn procession in imitation of the acclamations given to Christ as he entered Jerusalem a few days before His Passion. (Etym. Hebrew ho shi a na, save me; an exclamation of joy.)