toor, verb transitive and intransitive

/tʊə(r)/
Forms:
toer, tooverShow more Also toer, toover, tor, tover.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch toueren.
a. To bewitch (someone or something), to cast a spell. See also towenaar.
1912 F. Bancroft Veldt Dwellers 5Little baas,..ask me not to touch the water-rat; for, as thou knowest, his mother is a witch, and would tor the house of my father so that all therein should die the death.
1934 Sunday Times 1 Apr.The Prosecutor: ‘Did you believe this witchcraft?’ ‘Yes, she told me I had been “toored!”’
1950 V. De Kock Those in Bondage 127A man..had the reputation of being able to ‘tover’ (bewitch)...Any individual accredited with this power was never persona grata with the authorities.
1959 J. Meiring Candle in Wind 58‘Just so long as you “toor” me, I do not care. So be quick, old Tembela, and toor me now.’ The witchdoctor studied his client with interest. ‘And how must I toor you?’ he wheezed. ‘Toor me so that the police cannot catch me again.’
1970 C.B. Wood Informant, Johannesburg, GautengI’ll toor you (put a spell on someone).
1987 Pace Oct. 4The bad luck makhulu baas..walks with a limp because of a mysterious accident. And..the baas is forever pointing a finger at his ‘boy’, saying he did toor him no matter what.
b. combinations
toor-doctor or toordokter/-dɔktər/ [Afrikaans, dokter doctor], a healer who relies on supernatural methods;
toorgoed/-xut/ [Afrikaans, goed stuff], accessories or material believed to be a source of magic.
1959 J. Meiring Candle in Wind 56Am I not a toor-doctor, my Baas?
1959 J. Meiring Candle in Wind 58A man’s life might hang on a thread, but the little toor-doctor only wanted to make sure that there was money in the bag. Only money could buy his wonderful magic.
1987 M. Mosimane in Pace July 54There are whites who say I am doing satan’s work because they belive that if you’re a sangoma you’re a witch. That is why they call sangomas and nyangas ‘toor-doktors’ (witchdoctors). But that is wrong because the job of the sangomas is to do good and give health.
1892 The Jrnl 24 Sept. 2They had something in their possession which had bewitched her...They beat them with switches, demanding all the time that they should produce the toorgoed.
1934 Cape Argus 27 Jan. (Swart)This labourer has been to a witchdoctor and obtained toergoed to bewitch you.
1980 A.J. Blignaut Dead End Rd 75‘What did they, the toorgoed, say?’ he asked. I told him they spoke of aasvoëls in the sky.
To bewitch (someone or something), to cast a spell.
Derivatives:
Hence toordery /ˈtʊə(r)dəreɪ/ noun [Afrikaans], magic, sorcery.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 68Some members of his congregation believed in witchcraft...Even today ministers have sometimes to deal with toordery among white people.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 79Toordery, and goëlery, the old magic of the Hottentots and Malays, has not vanished from the Western Province...Ignorant people who believe in toordery are indeed seriously influenced.
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18921987

Compounds & Derivatives

toordery
toor-doctor
toordokter
toorgoed

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Afrikaans
Dutch
too, adverbadv.toot, nounn.
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