mandoor, noun

/ˈmandʊə(r)/
Forms:
mandor, mandoreShow more Also mandor, mandore, mandur, mantoor.
Origin:
Dutch, Malay, PortugueseShow more Dutch, from Malay mandor, mandur overseer, foreman from Portuguese mandador one who gives orders.
historical
A foreman or overseer of slaves or labourers during the early years of the Dutch settlement at the Cape. See also knecht.
Note:
Used also in Malaysia and Indonesia with the same meaning.
1802 African KalendarDepartment of the Slave Lodge...Mandoors August Nederland Johan Mich. Berthold Anthon Jonker Phil. Tiftel.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 309Mandoor, (Port. mandador, an overseer, superintendent.) A foreman. This is the Malay form of the word current in the Archipelago, whence it was brought in the early days to South Africa by Malay slaves.
1974 A.P. Brink Looking on Darkness 44He must have been twenty or so when he became mantoor or overseer on a farm in Klapmuts district.
1982 A.P. Brink Chain of Voices 126At Lagenvlei it’s Ontong and Achilles who keep an eye on me, but there on Houd-den-Bek I’m made mantoor over them.
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 52Farm slaves often worked under the immediate supervision of a mandoor (overseer) who was himself a slave, usually Cape-born and chosen for this senior position by his owner.
A foreman or overseer of slaves or labourers during the early years of the Dutch settlement at the Cape.
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Mandela United, noun phrasen. phr.manel, nounn.
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