# Is the word "Hansa" or "Hanse" originally of Latin, Gothic or Low German origin? I've found results stating all three of them as the source language
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 20, 2022, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514 "2022-10-20T00:29:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2022, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/1 "2022-10-20T00:29:18Z")
Is the word “Hansa” or “Hanse” originally of Latin, Gothic or Low German origin? I’ve found results stating all three of them as the source language. Which one is it?
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### Author:  [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2022, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/2 "2022-10-20T01:18:49Z")
Just to get the ball rolling, Merriam-Webster says:
_Hansa_ from Medieval Latin, from Middle Low German _hanse; Hanse_ from Middle English _Hanze_, from Anglo-French _hanse_, from Middle Low German
Now, _hansa_ is a 15th century word, so never mind going back to the Latin roots of Anglo-French. (I’m not sure exactly which language you’re referring to as “Gothic;” to the best of my knowledge, that’s a somewhat generic term, but again, if your sources are thinking about the origins of medieval German or English, that’s all rather beside the point, I think.)
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2022, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/3 "2022-10-20T05:11:58Z")
From Wiktionary:
From Middle English hanse, from Old French hanse (“guild; guild fee”), from Medieval Latin hansa, from Old High German hansa and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌽𐍃𐌰 (hansa, “company or band of soldiers; a gang of men”), both cognate with Old English hōs (“company, retinue, escorts”),[1] all believed to derive 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 Latin consilium (“council”) and Russian сосе́д (soséd, “neighbor”).
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2022, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/4 "2022-10-20T07:05:10Z")
> [@Octagon](#):
>
> Is the word “Hansa” or “Hanse” originally of Latin, Gothic or Low German origin? I’ve found results stating all three of them as the source language.
The source language for the Middle Low German medieval word for the league itself (and guilds in general) is the Old _High_ German word, so “none of them”.
The Gothic and High German words are cognates (and the Latin and Low German are just derived from those), so have the same source in “proto-Germanic”, which is a reconstruction, not an attested language as such.
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### Author:  [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2022, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/5 "2022-10-20T07:16:47Z")
Britannica. com states that Hanse is of “medieval German word”…“derived from a Gothic word for “troop” or company”
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### Author:  [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2022, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/6 "2022-10-20T07:30:19Z")
Thanks Hogarth. That makes sense now.
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### Author:  [@Feurmann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feurmann)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/7 "2022-10-20T23:03:51Z")
The **SOED** 3rd ed. gives variously Middle English, Middle and Modern Low German, medieval Latin, Old High German, and Gothic for ‘Hansa’ and its predecessor ‘Hanshus’. First recorded usage was 1135 for ‘Hanshus’, which is the Middle English.
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### Author:  [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2022, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/8 "2022-10-21T05:13:29Z")
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVYT2OJyhBw)
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2022, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/9 "2022-10-21T12:57:20Z")
[“Hansa”](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=252188&isprofile=0&cv) is a nice rugosa rose.
[ ](http://hongistontaimisto.fi/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Rosa-Hansa_pensas2.jpg)
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-hansa-or-hanse-originally-of-latin-gothic-or-low-german-origin-ive-found-results-stating-all-three-of-them-as-the-source-language/973514/10 "2022-10-21T20:17:09Z")
And a cheap beer from Dortmund:
[ ](https://mediafile.deloma.de/image/upload/h_256,q_85/v1/images/product/e7ede592-2910-42fe-918d-55ae94a141cb.jpg?pfdrid_c=true)