An exclamation of praise or joy, often used in religious contexts to express worship or celebration.
From Hebrew 'hōšīʿāh nāʾ' (save us, please), adopted into Greek as 'hōsanna' and then into Latin and English. Originally a plea for salvation, it became a shout of praise.
Hosanna originally meant 'save us!'—but people said it so enthusiastically and repeatedly that it flipped meaning and became pure celebration, like how 'awesome' started as awe-struck and now means pretty good. Words can change meaning just by how we say them.
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