hanse
/hæns/
Etymology
From Middle English hanse, from Old French hanse (“guild; guild fee”), from Medieval Latin hansa, from Old High German hansa, from Proto-West Germanic *hansu, from Proto-Germanic *hansō (“gathering; coalition; gang of men”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱómsōd (“union; gathering”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by, with, along”) + *sed- (“to sit”). In reference to the Hanseatic League, via German Hanse.
Cognate with Old English hōs (“company, retinue, escorts”),
hanse means A merchant guild, particularly the Fellowship of London Merchants (the "Old Hanse") given a monopoly on London's foreign trade by the Normans or its successor, the Company of Merchant Adventurers (the "New Hanse"), incorporated in 1497 and chartered under Henry VII and Elizabeth I. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
hanse is pronounced /hæns/.
Why “hanse” is a great word
HANSE — [Noun] A powerful medieval association of merchants or commercial towns, chartered to secure and monopolize trade routes, political privileges, and mutual protection. From Middle English hanse, from Old French hanse ("guild; guild fee"), from Medieval Latin hansa, from Old High German hansa, from Proto-West Germanic *hansu, from Proto-Germanic *hansō ("gathering, coalition"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱómsōd ("union, gathering"). Unlike a local "guild" of artisans or a modern "cartel" formed to fix prices, a hanse was a sovereign confederation of city-states wielding collective power. It is the cold scent of Baltic timber in a Lübeck warehouse, the heavy clink of silver marks in a Bergen counting-house, and the formidable brick warehouses standing sentinel along foreign quays—a collective architecture of trust and force, proving that commerce, when sufficiently organized, builds its own sovereignty.
noun
- A merchant guild, particularly the Fellowship of London Merchants (the "Old Hanse") given a monopoly on London's foreign trade by the Normans or its successor, the Company of Merchant Adventurers (the "New Hanse"), incorporated in 1497 and chartered under Henry VII and Elizabeth I.
- The rights and privileges of such guilds, particularly their trade monopolies.
- A commercial association of Scottish free burghs in the Middle Ages.
- The Hanseatic League: a commercial association of German towns in the Middle Ages.
- The guildhall of a Hanse.
- A fee payable to the Hanse, particularly its entrance fee and the impost levied on non-members trading in its area.