stoofie, noun

Forms:
Also stofie, stoofje.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans (from Dutch stoofje), stoof foot-warmer + -ie.
historical
komfoor sense b.
1905 O.E.A. Schreiner in C. Clayton Woman’s Rose (1986) 105He would sit on the stofie at his grandmother’s feet and lean his head against her knees.
1927 C.G. Botha Social Life in Cape Col. 50A third [slave] brought the ‘stoofje’ or footwarmer. The latter was a box-like footstool, one side open and the top perforated. A chafing dish with warm coals was placed underneath.
1952 G.M. Mills First Ladies of Cape 41The stofie a small hollow wooden stool, in which charcoal was burnt to warm the feet.
1965 M.G. Atmore Cape Furn. 85The brass komvoors or stoofjes used in Holland in the first half of the 18th century.
1968 K. McMagh Dinner of Herbs 14It had been the custom for elderly folk to have a couple of slaves precede them to church, one carrying a ‘stoofie’, a padded metal-lined footstool containing glowing charcoal when it was winter.
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19051968