An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Hanse

by Friedrich Kluge

Hanse, f., ‘Hanse,’ from MidHG. hans, hanse, f., ‘mercantile association with certain defined powers as knights, merchant's guild’; orig. an UpG. word (prob. signifying any corporation, association? OHG. and Goth. hansa, f., AS. hôs, ‘troop’), yet it soon became current in all G. dialects, and has been preserved in its application to the towns of the great North G. Hanseatic League, while the orig. sense ‘troop’ became obsolete even in MidHG. The nominal vb. hänseln is simply ModHG. ‘to admit any one into a corporation’ (not into the Hanse only).