Hansard

Definition

A member of a Hanse (“merchant guild”), or a resident of a Hanse town.

Etymology

PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English hansard (“merchant or citizen of a Hanseatic town; member of a merchant guild; a surname”), from hanse, hansze, hanze, haunse (“merchant guild; the Hanseatic League; member of the Hanseatic League; membership fee for a merchant guild; payment in general”) + -ard (suffix forming adjectives and nouns). Hanse is derived from Old French hanse (“merchant guild; membership fee for a merchant guild”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by; with; along”) + *sed- (“to sit”). The English word is analysable as Hanse (“merchant guild; the Hanseatic League”) + -ard (suffix forming agent nouns, especially pejorative ones).

Example Sentences

• "The cloſe of the thirteenth century appears to been have a remarkable era in the commercial hiſtory of London. In 1296, the company of merchant-adventurers was firſt incorporated by Edward I. The Hanſards, or Hanſe merchants, also received conſiderable privileges about the ſame time."
• "The merchants of the Hanse Towns, or Hansards, as they were then commonly termed, were established in London at a very early period, and their factory here was of considerable magnitude and importance."
• "The earlier commercial fisheries of the northern Atlantic waters were mainly of herring and mackerel, taken by nets in the North and Norwegian seas and marketed abroad by Hansard merchants."