Hanse

From Middle English hanse, from Old French hanse ("hanse, fee, company of merchants") and/or Medieval Latin hansa ("hanse, the Hanse League"); both from Middle High German hans, hanse ("association or corporation of merchants, the Hanse League"), from Old High German hansa ("troop of soldiers, host, company, multitude, crowd, mass"), from Proto-Germanic *hansō ("gathering, coalition, troop, company"), Proto-Indo-European *ḱómsōd ("union, gathering"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ("beside, by, with, along"). Cognate with Gothic (hansa, "band of men"), Old English hōs ("company, escort, attendants, retinue"), Latin consilium ("council, advisory body"; < *consodium), Russian сосед (soséd, "neighbour"), Latin cum ("with").

Full definition of hanse

Noun

1. A league; a confederacy.
2. A society or combination of merchants in mercantile towns, for the protection and facility of trade and transportation.
3. A Mediaeval French guild.

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

Noun

1. (architecture) That part of an elliptical or many-centred arch which has the shorter radius and immediately adjoins the impost.