LL-L "History" 2009.06.27 (04) [EN]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 27 June 2009 - Volume 04
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: History

Folks,

I wrote about the Hanseatic Steelyard in London:

Here is what the English Wikipedia says:

The Steelyard gave its name to a type of portable balance, consisting of a
graduated horizontal metal beam suspended on a chain. The whole balance
would be hung from a roof beam. A heavy object to be weighed, for instance a
sack of flour, would be hung on the shorter end of the beam, while lesser
but known weights would be slid along the other, longer end, till the beam
balanced. The weight of the sack could then be calculated by multiplying the
sum of the known weights by the ratio of the distances from the beam's
fulcrum.

The common non-English names -- German *Stahlhof*, Low Saxon *Stahlhoff*,
Dutch *Stalhof*, Russian *Стальной двор* -- refer to "yard" as "court" or
"courtyard", here in the sense of "compound". The English noun "steelyard"
denotes a weighing device, in which "yard" does not mean "courtyard". In
this case it was a large version of an ordinary steelyard balance (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelyard_balance), German *Handwaage* or *
Schnellwaage*, Low Saxon *Ãœnzner* or* Ãœnstel*, Dutch *unster*, Russian *
безмен*.

So it seems to me that this is either a case of misunderstanding of "yard"
or a case of word play in naming the compound.

The steelyard is, of course, a very old device. Roman steelyards from the
2nd century CE have been unearthed in Britain, and the history of the
steelyard (秤) in China goes back to at least 200 BCE. But an ordinary
steelyard is relatively small, as the component "yard" suggests, also the
Low Saxon and Dutch terms (*Ãœnzner*,* Ãœnstel*, *unster*) that seem to refer
to "ounce".

I imagine that the Hanseatic merchants' large steelyard-like device for
weighing sacks, bales and the like was new to the people of London, that it
was affixed high enough for ordinary people to be able see it on the other
side of the compound walls, and that this gave the compound its name.
(Historical descriptions talk of gates, which suggests that access to the
compound was controlled.)

Marlou mentions that at one point the German Wikipedia uses the name *
Stiliard*.* I have done some further research. (Please go to the end to find
recommendations.) There are indications that *Stiliard* was indeed the name
and spelling used by the "Easterlings", as the resident Hanseatic people
from the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts and from Cologne were referred to
by the English. In other words, they used the *English* name, at least at
first. *Stahlhof* etc. seem to have come in later, and their coinage may be
due to misunderstanding or wordplay, as I said earlier.

(* This spelling is interesting in that it shows that [i:] had by that time
become the local English pronunciation of written "ee", previously
pronounced [e:].)

The *Encyclopæedia Britannica* turns it around by saying:

in the later Middle Ages, members of the Hanseatic League, an association of
north German towns, who resided at its London establishment, known as the
Steelyard (probably from Low German *stâlgard,* a courtyard).

This would make sense only if the actual meaning of **stâlgard* were
explained and if this word could be verified anywhere.

Schiller-Lübben (*Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch*, 1881) suspect that the
name *Stâl-hof* (modern *Stahlhoff*) has nothing to do with "steel", that
the English translation Steel-yard is based on misunderstanding. They
consider two possibilities:

   1. < **Stadel-hof *< *stadel *'(small) place', 'spot for displaying or
   storing wares' (diminutive of *stad*, related to English "stead")
   2. < **stalen* < French *étaler* < *estaler* 'to display (wares), related
   to English "stall" as in "market stall" -- so, "display compound" (not all
   that far off from Marlou's *Stall* (stable) assumption)

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

Recommended:

   - Reinhold Pauli, *Der Hanseatische Stahlhof in London*, Bremen, 1856
   (German)
   http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25999/25999-h/25999-h.htm
   - Reingard Esser, "Germans in Early Modern Britain", in P. Panayi
ed. *Germans
   in Britain since 1500*, London, 1998
   http://books.google.com/books?id=Vsw_WrvbD_UC
   Illustration: p. 33
   - Philippe Dollinger, *The German Hansa*, Stanford, 1970.
   http://tinyurl.com/ljgrob

•

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