‖Moederkerk, noun

/ˈmʊdə(r)kɛrk/
Forms:
Also with small initial.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, moeder mother + kerk church.
Often in the noun phrases Dutch Reformed Moederkerk, Nederduits Gereformeerde Moederkerk. A name given to the oldest Dutch Reformed church (building) in a particular area.
c1970 Stellenbosch (brochure) 35In Drostdy Street is the D.R. Moederkerk (‘Mother Church’), consecrated in 1722 and therefore the second oldest surviving church building in the country.
[1974 S. Afr. Panorama May 26The Dutch Reformed ‘Mother’ Church (Moederkerk), the oldest church in Bethlehem was built in 1910.]
1975 C. Ramusi in T. Sundermeier Church & Nationalism 119The church is white dominated: Authority rests with the white leader. Africans are always puppets or are intimidated: e.g. rule by the ‘moederkerk’.
1979 E. Prov. Herald 14 June (Suppl.) 6Further along Drostdy Street is the neo-gothic Dutch Reformed ‘Moederkerk’, which dates in its present form from 1863, although some walls were part of an earlier church built in 1722.
1988 A. Campbell in Fair Lady 27 Apr. 93The funeral..is held in the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Moederkerk in George.
Often in the noun phrases Dutch Reformed Moederkerk, Nederduits Gereformeerde Moederkerk.A name given to the oldest Dutch Reformed church (building) in a particular area.
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Afrikaans
moederkappie, nounn.moeg, adjectiveadj.
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