ANNA.  f.  Egyptian.  The name of the queen of Sebekhotep II. of the XIIIth dynasty. (An Archaic Dictionary, Cooper, 1876).  It is probably the same as Ana, meaning "the sun."

ANNA (Ἄννα).  f.  Biblical.  [The Greek form of the Hebrew Hannah (q.v.) = "compassion, grace" and "prayers"].  Usage: America, Bulgaria (Анна), Denmark, England, France, Holland, Hungary, Lusatia, Poland, Russia (Анна), and Serbia. 

    A widow who, when the infant Jesus was brought to be dedicated in the temple, was there, as it was her daily practice to be, though she was 84 years old.  She was the daughter of Phanuel, and was of the tribe of Asher.  Her married life had lasted only seven years.  A prophetess, she recognised Jesus as the Messiah, and made her discovery known to the pious worshippers around (Luke ii. 36-38). (The Sunday School Teacher's Bible Manual, Hunter, 1894)

ANNA.  f.  A variant of Irish Ana (q.v.), the name of a war goddess, and mother of the gods, meaning "mother."  In Arthurian Legend, this is the name of the mother of Gawain.

    We find Ana, a war-goddess, in Irish tradition; Anna, the mother of Gawain, in early sources in England and France; a term applicable, according to Rhys's interpretation, to Ana the war-goddess, given to one of Gwalchmei's parents in Welsh material.  This is an analogous situation to that which we shall meet in the case of the Morrigan: in a certain episode in a French source she retains her Irish name in a French form; in Welsh material in the same episode a term synonymous with her name is used.  The evidence thus far indicates that tradition made Anna the mother of Gawain in her origin essentially the same sort of being that Morgain was in her origin, and that a consequent confusion in name between Anna and Morgain accounts for Anna's disappearance from the romances and Morgain's appearance there as Arthur's sister.  To Anna as the mother of Gawain, Arthur's nephew, this position belonged by the time when Geoffrey wrote his Historia, whatever her origin may have been; but there is excellent reason to believe that it had not been Morgain's from the time when tradition first associated her with Arthur... (Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance, Paton, 1903).

ANNA.  f.  Latin form of Greek Anna, meaning "compassion, grace" and "prayers."  Also from Latin annus, or anus, meaning "year."  Usage: Italy.

    Anna, a goddess, in whose honour the Romans instituted a festival.  She was, according to the common account, Anna, the daughter of Belus, and sister of Dido, who, after her sister's death, gave up Carthage to Iarbas, king of Gaetulia, who had besieged the place, and fled to Melita, now Malta.  From Melita she proceeded to Italy, and was there kindly received by Æneas.  Lavinia, however, conceived so violent a jealousy against her, that Anna, warned in a dream, by Dido, of her danger, took flight during the night, and threw herself into the Numicius, where she was transformed into a Naiad.  The Romans instituted a festival, which was always celebrated on the 15th of March, in her honour, and generally invoked her aid to obtain a long and happy life; thence, according to some, the explanation of the epithet Anna Perenna assigned to her after deification.  (Ovid, Fast., 3, 653.—Sil. Ital., 8, 79, &c.)  The key to the different legends relative to Anna Perenna is to be found in the rites and ceremonies attending her festival.  It was a feast commemorative of the year and the spring, and the hymns sung on this occasion bore the free and joyous character of orgiastic strains.  In them Anna Perenna was entreated to make the entire year roll away in health and prosperity ("Ut annare perennareque commode liccat."—Macrob., Sat., 1, 12).  Now, this new year, this year full of freshness and of benefits invoked, is no other than Anna herself, a personification of the old lunar year.  (Compare Hermann und Creuzer, Briefe, &c., p. 135.)  Anna is the same word, in fact, as annus, or anus according to the primitive Roman orthography; in Greek ἔνος or ἕνος, whence the expression ἕνη καὶ νἑα, proving that the word carries with it the accessory idea of antiquity, just as ἕτος appears analogous to vetus.  (Compare Lennep, Etymol. Gr., p. 210, seqq.—Valckenaer, ad Ammon., p. 196, 197.)  Anna Perenna is called the moon, κατ' ἐξοχήν, and it is she that conducts the moons her sisters, and who at the same time directs and governs the humid sphere: thus she reposes for ever in the river Numicius, and runs on for ever with it.  She is the course of the moons, of the years, of time in general.  It is she that gives the flowers and fruits, and causes the harvest to ripen: the annual produce of the seasons (annona) is placed under her protecting care.—The Anna Perenna of the Romans has been compared with the Anna Pourna Devi, or Annada, of the Hindu mythology; the goddess of abundance and nourishment, a beneficent form of Bhavani.  The characteristic traits appear to be the same.  (Compare the remarks of Paterson and Colebrooke, in the Asiatic Researches, vol. 8, p. 69, seqq., and p. 85.—Creuzer's Symbolik, par Guigniaut, vol. 2, p. 501, seqq.). (A Classical Dictionary, Anthon, 1891)