Why this word is great
CORDWAIN — [Noun] A fine, supple leather originally crafted in Córdoba, Spain, from tanned goatskin or horsehide, historically prized by artisans for superior footwear. From Middle English cordewan, cordewayn, borrowed from Anglo-French cordewan, from Old French cordoan, meaning "(leather) of Córdoba," from Spanish Córdoba, the city in Spain. Unlike "cordovan" (which broadens to denote a color or general leather type) or "morocco" (a distinct, often embossed goatskin from North Africa), cordwain is the archaic, material-specific term of the craftsman's bench. It is the warm, resilient grain under a testing thumb, the rich, vegetal scent of oak-bark tannin in a sunlit workshop, and the soft, yielding resistance as an awl pierces it—a substance so defined by its origin that its name is a geography of craftsmanship, now quietly forgotten by all but lexicons and guild histories.