Anna
An'na (῎Αννα, the Greek form of the name Hannah [q.v.]; it also occurs in the cognate Punic as that of the sister of Dido, Virgil, En. 4, 9), the name of two women.
1. The wife of Tobit, whose history is contained in the apocryphal book that bears his name (Tobit 1:9 sq.).
2. An aged widow, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She had married early, but after seven years her husband died, and during her long widowhood she daily attended the morning and evening services of the temple. Anna was eighty-four years old when the infant Jesus was brought to the temple by his mother, and, entering as Simeon pronounced his thanksgiving, she also broke forth in praise to God fof the fulfillment of his ancient promises (Lu 2:36-37), B.C. 6. See Mayer, De Anna prophetissa vidua (Gryph. 1706).
