This week's theme: words related to shoes.

cordwainer (KORD-way-nuhr) noun

   A shoemaker.

[From Old French cordewan, from Spanish cordobán (from Cordoba).]

Originally, a cordwainer was a shoemaker who worked with cordwain
(or cordovan), a supple leather made from goatskin. The leather was
named after Cordoba, a city in south Spain famed for this soft leather.

The term mostly survives as a surname, and also in the fancy names of
the various guilds of shoemakers, e.g.

  The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers http://www.cordwainers.org
  The Honourable Cordwainers' Company   http://www.thehcc.org

-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)

  "Luke Pollock, a cordwainer, is the owner of The English Leather Shop
   in Horton."
   Ann Marie Bush; Horton Store Buys, Sells Goods; Topeka Capital-Journal
   (Kansas); Sep 24, 2004.

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/cordwainer.wav
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