Where does “Hanseatic League” come from?

Hanseatic League (English) comes from English Hanseatic, from German hanseatisch, from German Hanseat, from German hanse, from Middle High German hanse, from Old High German hansa, from Proto-Germanic *hansu, from Proto-Germanic hansō — whale, sea monster; abyss.

Hanseatic League (English): The commercial and military alliance of Low German merchant guilds and privileged market towns which dominated trade along the coasts of northern Europe from the mid-12th to mid-17th centuries

Definitions

  1. The commercial and military alliance of Low German merchant guilds and privileged market towns which dominated trade along the coasts of northern Europe from the mid-12th to mid-17th centuries

Ancestry of “Hanseatic League”, step by step

Hanseatic League traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English Hanseatic

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishHanseaticOf or pertaining to the German Hanse
2GermanhanseatischHanseatic
3GermanHanseata Hanseatic merchant; a native or inhabitant of a...
4Germanhansea guild; a kind of commercial, and sometimes military, confederation of cities in the later Middle Ages; in particular the Hanseatic League of northern Germany
5Middle High Germanhanseguild
6Old High Germanhansagroup; community; guild
7Proto-Germanic*hansu
8Proto-GermanichansōA gathering, summation, mass, quantity, amount; A...
9Proto-Indo-Europeanḱómsōdunion; gathering; union, gathering
10Proto-Indo-Europeanḱómbeside, near, by, with
11Proto-Indo-EuropeanḱeDeictic particle, here; Post-positional...
12Middle Englishkyt
13Russianкитwhale; genitive plural of ки́та
14Old Church Slavonicкитъwhale
15Ancient Greekκῆτοςwhale, sea monster; abyss

via English League

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishLeagueA group or association of cooperating members
2Middle Englishlegeleague; one's subjects or vassals; those under...
3Anglo-Normanligeliege; liegeman; vassal
4Old Frenchliegeliege, servant; liege, free
5Vulgar Latinleviuscomparative degree of leviter
6Latinlēvislight, not heavy
7Proto-Italicleɣʷislight
8Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁léngʰuslightweight
9Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁lengʷʰ-light
Every word from Ancient Greek κῆτοςEvery word from Old Church Slavonic китъEvery word from Russian кит