An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hanse

by Friedrich Kluge

Hanse, feminine, ‘Hanse,’ from Middle High German hans, hanse, feminine, ‘mercantile association with certain defined powers as knights, merchant's guild’; originally an Upper German word (probably signifying any corporation, association? Old High German and Gothic hansa, feminine, Anglo-Saxon hôs, ‘troop’), yet it soon became current in all German dialects, and has been preserved in its application to the towns of the great North German Hanseatic League, while the original sense ‘troop’ became obsolete even in Middle High German. The nominal verb hänseln is simply Modern High German ‘to admit any one into a corporation’ (not into the Hanse only).