Earliest recorded use of the word vodka

Court records from the Sandomierz region of Poland contain the earliest known written appearance of the word "wodka," dated to 1405, though at the time it referred to medicinal and cosmetic preparations rather than a drink. Large-scale vodka production in Poland began by the late 16th century and spread across Europe in the centuries that followed. Poland and Russia both claim to be the spirit's birthplace, and historians consider the question unresolved.