Sunday Rest: mantelscaping. Word Not To Use Today.

 People have long arranged ornaments on their mantelpieces:

fireplace painted by Arthur Ferraris, late 1800s.

but now we have a word for the action: mantelscaping.

I think the idea of this new word is to make people unsure about their own taste, so they turn to a professional for help (a professional, naturally, who's just written a book about the craze). Or perhaps it's an invention of ceramicists to encourage us to buy new vases to anchor the wreaths of ivy and hothouse flowers that we are now supposed to weave with chaotic artistry through our candlesticks. Or perhaps by the decorators who hope to get the job of re-painting after the candles have set the ivy on fire...

Still, do have fun with your mantelscaping. 

If you should want to.

Sunday Rest: mantelscaping, The word mantel came into English in the 1300s from France. It's basically the same word as mantle, meaning cloak, and comes from the Latin word mantellum, which means a little mantum, which also means cloak. The -scape part of the word echoes landscape (and that other recent coinage, tablescape). 

The word landscape comes from the Middle Dutch landskap, which means region. The -skap part is more or less the same kind of thing as the -ship in a word like governorship.