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paysage

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Etymology and origin of the French word paysage

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1549, Robert Estienne
Ultimate origin
Latin pāgus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French pays
French paysage

Pronunciation

Forms

paysage m (plural paysages)[1]

Etymology

It is from French pays + -age.[2][3][4][1] Pays goes back to Late Latin pāgēnsis (“inhabitant of a district”), from pāgus (“district, canton”).[4] Compare Italian paesaggio, Catalan paisatge, Spanish paisaje, Portuguese paisagem and Romanian peisaj.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Robert Estienne records it in 1549 as a word shared among painters, for the depiction of a country scene.[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

As a painters' word paysage named the representation of a rural site and then the painting itself;[3][6] Richelet (1680) notes that painters pronounced it pésage.[3][6] By metonymy it meant the whole land, the country (1556, Beaugué), a use limited to the 16th century.[2][3] Before the century ended it was commonly used for an expanse of land that the eye can take in at once (1573, Garnier), and this visual sense prevailed.[2][3]

Littré records paysage historique and the phrase cela fait bien dans le paysage (1868); Gide wrote of a paysage intérieur.[5] After 1950 the word took the figurative sense “general situation”, as in le paysage politique and paysage audiovisuel, abbreviated P.A.F.[3] The derivatives are paysagiste (1651), first for a landscape painter, and paysager (jardin paysager, 1845).[3][4][2]

Timeline

  • 1549 – Robert Estienne records paisage as a painters' term.[2]
  • 1556 – Beaugué uses it for a whole country.[2][7]
  • 1573 – Garnier uses it for the expanse of land seen at once.[2]
  • 1651 – The derivative paysagiste.[4][3]
  • 1680 – Richelet notes the painters' pronunciation pésage.[3]
  • 1845 – Jardin paysager.[2]
  • After 1950 – Le paysage politique, “the political situation”.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A landscape, the part of a country that nature presents to an onlooker: un paysage de collines; by extension paysage urbain.[6][2]
  2. A painting or drawing of a landscape; the genre of landscape painting.[6][7]
  3. (printing) Landscape format.[1][6]
  4. (figurative) The general situation in a field: le paysage politique, le paysage audiovisuel.[3]
  5. (familiar) Cela fait bien dans le paysage: it looks good, it makes a good impression.[5][6]

Word family

  • paysager
  • paysagiste

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
Cite this entry

“Paysage.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/paysage. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·