English

Alternative forms

• hanse
• (obsolete) Haunce
• (obsolete) Hans

Noun

Hanse ‎(plural Hanses)

1. (historical) 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.
2. (historical) The rights and privileges of such guilds, particularly their trade monopolies.
3. (historical) A commercial association of Scottish free burghs in the Middle Ages.^[2]
4. (historical) The Hanseatic League: a commercial association of German towns in the Middle Ages.
5. (historical) Alternative form of hanse, the fees payable to a Hanse or its guildhall.

Usage notes

In reference to the cities of the Hanseatic League taken collectively, used as "the Hanses".

Synonyms

• (merchant guild): See guild
• (league of German cities): See Hanseatic League
• (fees or residence): See hanse and guildhall

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• ashen
• Ehsan
• Shane

References

1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "Hanse, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1898.
2. ↑ Smith, William Charles. "Borough" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV. Charles Scribner's Sons (New York), 1878, p. 64.

German

Etymology

From Middle Low German hanse ‎(“guild; Hanseatic League”), from Middle High German hanse ‎(“guild”), from Old High German hansa ‎(“group; community; guild”), from Proto-Germanic *hansō. The general commercial sense of the word spread northward from southern Germany during the Middle Ages. The specification of the word to the indicated historic confederation is based on northern German usage.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhanzə/

Noun

Hanse f ‎(genitive Hanse, plural Hansen)

1. (historical) a kind of commercial, and sometimes military, confederation of cities in the later Middle Ages; in particular the Hanseatic League of northern Germany

   die Deutsche Hanse — the Hanseatic League

   die Hanse der 17 Städte — the Hanse of the 17 cities (a similar confederation in Flanders and northern France)

2. (by analogy) any similar confederation based first and foremost on commercial interests

Declension

Derived terms

• Hanseat
• Hansestadt

English

Alternative forms

• hans
• haunse, haunce

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hans/, /hanzə/

Noun

hanse ‎(plural hanses)

1. (historical) Alternative form of Hanse, a merchant guild or a former commercial league of German cities.
   • (Can we date this quote?), An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, p. 252:

     The town does not seem to have had a hanse, nor have there been discovered any records showing the existence of medieval trade guilds; […]

   • (Can we date this quote?), Institutions and European Trade, p. 95:

     In this, they resembled the alien merchant guilds and hanses of the medieval period.

   • 2002, P. Boissonnade, Life and Work in Medieval Europe, page 208:

     Gilds and hanses seized control of the export trade […]

   • 2002, T. H. Lloyd, England and the German Hanse, 1157-1611: A Study of Their Trade, page 1:

     For the sake of convenience the title is generally shortened to Hanse, but the initial capital is retained, not least to prevent confusion with other hanses.

2. (historical) The guildhall of a Hanse.
3. (historical) A fee payable to the Hanse, particularly its entrance fee and the impost levied on non-members trading in its area.

Synonyms

• (merchant guild): See guild
• (Hanseatic League): See Hanseatic League
• (headquarters of a Hanse in a city): guildhall, hanse-house
• (fee paid to enter the Hanse): hansing, hansing-silver
• (any fee paid to the Hanse): hanse-penny, hanse-gild

Translations

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "Hanse, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1898.

Etymology 2

Compare French anse ‎(“handle”), anse de panier ‎(“surbased arch, flat arch, vault”), and English haunch ‎(“hip”).

Noun

hanse ‎(plural hanses)

1. (architecture) That part of an elliptical or many-centred arch which has the shorter radius and immediately adjoins the impost.
   • 1736, Richard Neve, Neve's The city and country purchaser and builder's dictionary

     Now Workmen call each End of these Arches the Hanse, which Hanses are always the Arches of smaller Circles than the Scheme, which is the middle Part of these Arches, and consists of a Part of a larger Circle […]

   • 1846, Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Quarto Publications (volume 1, page 60)

     The building, from the tenor of the whole description, was in the style of the Renaissance, and the pillars (spiral or wreathed) probably supported the hanses, or spring of the arch.