Step 1: Trace the embryological origin. The notochord is the midline structure of the developing axial skeleton, and its leftover cells can later become a tumor.
Step 2: These notochordal remnants persist along the midline from the skull base to the sacrum, which is exactly where chordomas appear, most often at the clivus and the sacrum.
Step 3: Histologically, the tumor is divided into conventional, chondroid, and dedifferentiated subtypes, all sharing the notochordal origin.
Step 4: Rathke's pouch is the embryological source of craniopharyngioma, while the pharyngeal and Luschka bursae are unrelated to this tumor. Hence chordoma arises from the notochord.
\[\boxed{\text{Notochord}}\]