Etymograph

English

landscape

Landscape is an alteration, after Dutch landschap, of earlier landskip, from Middle English *landschippe, from Old English landsċipe ‘region, tract of land’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150landsċipe1‘region, district, tract of land’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*landschippe1reconstructed
  3. English1500–presentlandskip1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1676landscape1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English landscape
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1676, Charles Cotton, London: […] Richard Marriott: “Piſcat[or]. [...] [T]heſe Hills though high, bleak, and craggy,…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150landsċipeWiktionary, English landscape‘region, district, tract of land’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*landschippeWiktionary, English landscapereconstructed
  3. English1500–presentlandskipWiktionary, English landscape
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1676landscapeWiktionary, English landscape. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1676, Charles Cotton, London: […] Richard Marriott: “Piſcat[or]. [...] [T]heſe Hills though high, bleak, and craggy,…”

The story

From an alteration (due to Dutch landschap) of earlier landskip, lantschip, from Middle English *landschippe, *landschapp, from Old English landsċipe, landsċeap (‘region, district, tract of land’); in some senses from Dutch landschap (‘region, district, province, landscape’), from Middle Dutch landscap, lantscap (‘region’), from Old Dutch *landskepi, *landskapi (‘region’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

noun A portion of land or territory as defined by its landform, its geographical (and architectural) features.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “landscape”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Old English landsċipe / landscape