“Kordovâni,” A Rare Word in Qatran’s Poetry

The poetry of the fourth and fifth centuries AH is a mirror of nature in comparison with the poetry of other periods. The poet of this period speaks more of the elements that his audience, the king and the courtiers, see and know. Among these elements are the textiles whose names may have changed today; “kordovâni” is one of them. It is a thick textile that was used in wine filtration, wound dressing, and making tents, as well as in war clothing. This textile had different types some of which were precious and some were not of much value. “Kordovâni” does not appear in Persian dictionaries or in Persian poetry; it is mentioned only in the poetry of Qatran Tabrizi, the famous poet of the fifth century. This article is an attempt to determine the meaning of the word “kordovâni,” its origin, and its uses, based on Qatran’s poetry and with the help of Arabic and Persian sources, and to show that this textile is attributed to an area of Azerbaijan, where it was woven, and that it has long been associated with the Arabic-speaking community. Qatran who was familiar with the Arabic language and texts probably saw the word in Arabic texts.