landscape

The word comes from an alteration of earlier landskip, lantschip, itself from Middle English forms tracing back to Old English landsċipe or landsċeap, meaning "region, district, tract of land." In some of its senses it was reshaped under the influence of Dutch landschap, from Middle Dutch landscap or lantscap, meaning "region." By surface analysis, it breaks down simply as land + -ship.

It began as a plain term for a region or district of land, a stretch of countryside defined by its borders rather than its beauty. Over time, through the Dutch-influenced spelling landschap, the word came to describe not just land itself but its appearance as a scene.

It shares its root with German Landschaft, Danish landskab, Swedish landskap, and West Frisian lânskip, all cousins that still carry the sense of "countryside" or "region" in their languages today.