the.com/material

means The physical substance something is made of, or — stretched sideways — the facts and evidence solid enough to build a case, a point, or a joke out of.

from From Latin 'materialis,' built on 'materia,' meaning timber, substance, or the stuff things are made from — and 'materia' itself likely traces back to 'mater,' mother, the ancient root-source from which matter grows, the way a trunk grows from a tree. The word kept its builder's-lumber sense for centuries before English let it drift toward anything substantial enough to work with, including arguments.