/hæns/, /hænzə/
OriginFrom 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”),
- historicalA 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.
- historicalThe rights and privileges of such guilds, particularly their trade monopolies.
- historicalA commercial association of Scottish free burghs in the Middle Ages.
- historicalThe Hanseatic League: a commercial association of German towns in the Middle Ages.
- historicalThe guildhall of a Hanse.
- historicalA fee payable to the Hanse, particularly its entrance fee and the impost levied on non-members trading in its area.
- That part of an elliptical or many-centred arch which has the shorter radius and immediately adjoins the impost.
“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”
“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.”
FormsHanses(plural) · hanse(alternative) · Haunce(alternative) · Hans(alternative) · hanses(plural) · hans(alternative) · haunse(alternative) · haunce(alternative)