Landscape Was Borrowed From Dutch Painters
Land is the solid part of the Earth's surface. One of its compounds came into English as an art term.
Land is the solid part of the Earth's surface, and also a country or estate. *Landscape* entered English around 1600 from Dutch *landschap*, and it came as a painter's word: Dutch artists had made views of the countryside a subject in their own right, and English had no term for the genre. The land existed; the way of looking at it had to be imported. *Landmark* and *landslide* are native compounds, both much older.
- Solid ground. *Dry land.*
- A country. *A foreign land.*
- To arrive. *The plane landed.*
- Landscape — from Dutch. *A landscape.*
- Old English — *land*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | land | Land. |
| Verb | land | Landing. |
| Compound | landscape | A landscape. |
| Compound | landmark | A landmark. |
| Dutch | landschap | A landscape. |
- They sighted land at dawn.Ground.
- The plane landed safely.Verb.
- Landscape came from Dutch.Etymology.
Art words English borrowed
- Landscape — from Dutch *landschap*
- Easel — from Dutch *ezel*, a donkey
- Sketch — from Dutch *schets*
- Etching — from Dutch *etsen*
- Chiaroscuro and fresco — from Italian instead
Old English *land*, of Germanic origin. *Landscape* is from Dutch *landschap*, borrowed around 1600.
Why did landscape come from Dutch?
Dutch painters made countryside views a genre in their own right, and English had no word for the subject until it borrowed theirs.
Are easel and sketch also Dutch?
Yes. English took a cluster of painting terms from Dutch during the same period.