sieketrooster, noun

/ˈsikəˌtrʊəstə(r)/
Forms:
sieckentrooster, siekentroosterShow more Also sieckentrooster, siekentrooster, ziekentrooster.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch ziekentrooster sick comforter, zieken the sick + troos solace + agential suffix -er, -ter.
obs. except in historical contexts
A minor clerical official in the service of the Dutch East India Company, whose function, as lay preacher, was to conduct services, visit the sick, and teach children; sick comforter; also called dominee (sense 1). Cf. oefening-holder (see oefening sense 2).
1861 P.B. Borcherds Auto-Biog. Mem. 276On the 17th April 1658, he commenced to arrange the keeping of a school for the male and female Angola slaves, in the morning and evening under a Catechist (Ziekentrooster).
1926 P.W. Laidler Tavern of Ocean 21One of the settlement’s minor officials, the ‘Ziektenrooster,’ was a peculiar mixture of lay preacher and parish visitor.
1926 P.W. Laidler Tavern of Ocean 75Each evening when the lamps were lit the ziekentrooster or sick-visitor paid his call.
1934 C.P. Swart Supplement to Pettman. 155Sieketrooster,..In the early days of the Cape comforters of the sick or sick-visitors, men of lower ecclesiastical rank, held offices similar to those of catechists in the English Church. They also instructed children and conducted religious services, but were not allowed to administer the sacraments.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 45Lombard was the sieketrooster of the Huguenots.
1967 E. Rosenthal Encycl. of Sn Afr. 384The original settlers under Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 were accompanied by a ‘Ziekentrooster’ (sick comforter) who, not officially qualified, was expected to carry out certain ministrations.
1975 P.G.J. Meiring in T. Sundermeier Church & Nationalism 57The State appointed and remunerated the ‘sieketroosters’ and ministers.
1975 P.G.J. Meiring in T. Sundermeier Church & Nationalism 61The very first school started in the Castle in Cape Town, in 1663 with 17 pupils (12 white and four slave children as well as one Hottentot boy) who were daily instructed by the church’s sieketrooster.
1988 P.E. Raper tr. of R.J. Gordon’s Cape Trav. 1777–86 I. 52Was present at a sermon which was delivered by a sieketrooster, a man who travels from place to place.
1990 C. Laffeaty Far Forbidden Plains 39Mamma was also what the Boers called a Ziekentrooster...it meant ‘Comforter of the Sick’.
A minor clerical official in the service of the Dutch East India Company, whose function, as lay preacher, was to conduct services, visit the sick, and teach children; sick comforter; also called dominee (sense 1).
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obsolete or obsolescent
sieketroos, nounn.siestog, interjectionint.
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