Landscaper

/ˈlændskeɪpər/ noun

Definition

A person who designs and maintains outdoor spaces, arranging plants, paths, and features.

Etymology

Landscaper comes from 'landscape,' which was borrowed from Dutch 'landschap' in the 1600s, originally meaning a painting of countryside scenery, not actual terrain. Dutch painters coined the term to describe their artistic genre of rural scenes. The word only applied to real outdoor spaces starting in the 1700s, and 'landscaper' as a profession emerged in the 1800s when wealthy Americans began hiring people to make their grounds look like Dutch paintings.

Kelly Says

Landscapers are literally trying to make real life look like 17th-century Dutch paintings! The word 'landscape' started as an art term before it meant actual land. When rich Americans hired the first landscapers, they were asking them to transform their yards into three-dimensional versions of the pastoral paintings hanging in their parlors.

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