Ana is a Greek preposition meaning "up," "each," "through," or "by." As a prefix in compound verbs it conveys upward motion, repetition, or reversal. In the NT it appears mainly in compounds and distributive expressions ("apiece," "each"). Key compound verbs include anabainō (go up, ascend), analambanō (take up), anastasis (resurrection — literally, "standing up again"), and anaginōskō (read — "know again").
Ana as a prefix is theologically ubiquitous: anastasis (resurrection) contains it at the core — the "standing up again" of the dead. Anabainō describes Christ's ascension (John 20:17). Analambanō is used for the assumption of Christ into heaven (Acts 1:2). The upward, reversal-of-death motion encoded in this prefix undergirds the entire NT theology of resurrection and exaltation. What has gone down — humanity, death — is reversed and raised ana.