The meaning of LANDSCAPE - a linguistic approach

The Vernacular landscape
J.B. Jackson

"LAND" + "SCAPE"

"land" - a defined space, a space with boundaries
"scape" - a composition of similar objects; an organisation or a system

"landscape" could have meant a system of rural farm spaces. It is a system created by man. A thousand years ago the word had nothing to do with scenery or the depiction of scenery.

It is a synthetic space, a man-made system functioning and evolving not according to natural laws but to serve a community.

A landscape is thus a space deliberately created to speed up or slow down the process of nature. As Eliade expresses it, it represents man taking upon himself the role of time.

"landscape" and "country" both indicate a tract of land seen at a glance; neither had any legal standing -> associated with peasantry; with no written history.