At least, the modern name Hanna has the interpretation 'grace', derived from its Hebrew origins. It is, however, extremely rare to find Hobbit-names derived from that language, and indeed Hanna seems to be a unique example. We might take this to imply that the origins of the name in the Shire differed from those of our modern version (in a similar way that the Hobbit-name 'Sam' comes from Old English 'Samwise', rather than Hebrew 'Samuel'). Perhaps, then, Hanna is not meant as a translation, but rather an anglicisation of an actual name used in the Shire (in rather the way that the family names 'Took' or 'Boffin' derive directly from Tûk or Bophîn). In that case, Hanna would have an entirely different, unknown, meaning. |
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