HORSELITTER.— Only 2 Mac 9* ((pipiov [ = 0o- puov], which is tr'' 'litter' in 3-''), RV 'litter' (which see). The word is used in Malory's Morte Varthur (Caxton's text) several times. Thus i. 3, ' So it wa.s done as Merlin had devised, and they carried the kingforth in a horse-litter with a great host towards his enemies' ; and x. 37, 'Then came queen Morgan le Fay to Alisander, and bad him arise, and put him in a horse-litter : and g.ave him such a drink that in three days and tliree nights he waked never but slept.'
HORTICULTURE.— See Garden.
HOSAH (nijh ' refuge '). — A LeWtical door- keeper of the temple, whose station was by the 'gate of Shallecheth,' 1 Ch 16^ 26'»- "• ". See Genealogy, III. 39.
HOSAH (n;n). — A city of Asher, apparently south of Tyre, Jos 19^. The site is doubtful.
HOSANNA.— An acclamation used by the people on the occasion of our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It occurs six times in the Gospels : twice (Mk IP, Jn 12") it stands absolutely, twice (Mt 2P-") it is followed by the dative ('to the Son of David '), and twice (Mt 21», Mk 11"*) by the adjunct ' in the highest'. The circuni-stance that in all three Gospels the words ' Bles.sed is he that Cometh in the name of the Lord,' from Ps llS-", follow it, h.as given rise to the a.ssumption that it is borrowed from the preceding verse of that psalm, which begins with 'at^ndkJ" hoshl'fth nn, i.e. '.save, pray ' (Sept. adaov 5i)). This v.^ of the psalm, according to the ritual of the temple, is said to
have been repeated once on each of the first rix days of the joyous Feast of Tabernacles during the solemn procession around the altar of burnt sacrilice and seven times on the seventh day (John Lightfoot, Thi- Tcni/ilc Scnnce, etc., ch. xvi. § 2; De Sola and Kaijliall, Eighteen Treatises from t/u Mi.thnii, 2nd ed., tr. Succah, ch. iv. § 5 ; M. Schwab, Le Talmud de Jfrus. traduit, vol. vi. 33). This seventh day thus came to bo called the 'Great Hosanna' (linxtorf. Lex. 992) or ' Uosanna Day' (Zunz, Gottesdirnstliche Vortriige, n.s.w. 2te Aull. p. 39.> n. ; Dalman, Gram, d, Judi.ichp'daxf. Aramuivh, p. 198), and the name was transferred not merely to the prayers of the occasion, but also to the branches of palm trees and willows (I.v 23'"') which were carried and waved on that festivity. Similarly, in Christian usage. Palm .Sumlay, to which our Lord's entry has given name, has in certain periods and regions been called ' Ho.sanna Sumlaj- or ' Day of Hosunnas,' or simply ' Osanna'; and the term has been applied to the ' Sanctus,' ' Tersanctus,' or 'Triumphal Hymn' (as it is variously called) sung by the people at the con- clusion of the ' Eucharistic Preface in all liturgies (C. E. Hammond, Liturgies Eastern and Western, 1878, p. 381; Bingham, Antiq. xiv. 2, 5); and later the extended use of the word gave rise, especially in the languages of Southern Europe, to such verbs as hosannare, oisisannare, etc., to- gether with correspondini; adjectives (see Ducange, Gloss, med. et. injim. Latin., ed. Fa^Te, iii. 167 f.).
How the Hebrew term hus{h)i'una — employed by Luther not only in his translation of the NT, but even in some editions of his translation of the Psalms (see Bindseil and Niemever's ed.), and adopted at first by Tindale in his ^JT of 1525 (ed. E. Arber, 1871)— became changed into hnsniui {■anna), those who hold this opinion are not quite agreed. Jerome, in his reply to the inquiry of Damasus about the meaning of the term (Upp. i. 37511'., Ep. XX. in Migne, Patrol. Lat. xxii.), lets fall in one place the conjecture that the shorter form is an ignorant corruption (cf. Origen on Mt. I.e., ed. Lommatzsch, iv. 58). The more common supposition regards it as having arisen by svncope or contraction (Jerome as above ; Levita, Tishbi, s.v. ; and the commentators generally) ; or as a supposed Aramaic form (there is no root yr- in Aram.) of the verb with the pronominal sullix (meaning 'Save us.' See Kautz.sch, Gram, des Bib.- Aram. 1884, p. 173, and, again.st this, Dalm. I.e.).
But though the words ' Ble.s.sed is he that cora- eth,' etc., are indubitably borrowed from Ps 118, and though \'V.^'- of that psalm receive express Messianic reference Iwth from our Lord (Mt 21", Mk 12", Lk 20") and St. Peter (Ac 4", 1 P 2'), it may be doubted whether the rejoicing multitudes in the evangelic story were consciously indebted to the psalm or its use at the Feast of Tabernacles either for the cry ' Hosanna' or the festive demon- stration with palm and other branches. To find the explanation of either word or act in the psalm and its use, involves the NT interpreter in grave embarrassments. The language of the psalm is supplicatory, that of the Gospels is uibilant. The psalmist's petition looks towards himself and those whom he represents (the Engli-sh Pr. Bk. even follows the Vmg. in inserting the object 'me': Saleum mefae, 'Help me'); the Hosanna of the Gospels finds its expressed object in 'the Son of Pavid.' This aspect of the case makes equally against discovering the original of our term in the Aramaic Nji'S'i« 'Save w.9.' The obvious incongruity between the su[)plicatory sense and the tone of the narrative has driven expositors to jejune and far-fetched e.xplanations : some, for example, by transposing the Greek, nave extorted the rendering ' (Saying) to the Son of