doula

/ˈduːlə/

Etymology

Borrowed from Greek δούλα (doúla, “servant-woman”), from Ancient Greek δούλη (doúlē, “female slave”). Popularized by the American anthropologist Dana Raphael in the book The Tender Gift: Breastfeeding (1973), where the word is credited to Eleni Rassias.

Why this word is great

DOULA — [Noun] A trained support person who provides emotional, physical, and practical assistance to a pregnant woman or couple before, during, or after childbirth, or to someone receiving end-of-life care. From Greek δούλα (doúla, "servant-woman"), from Ancient Greek δούλη (doúlē, "female slave"). Popularized in modern usage by Dana Raphael (1973), crediting Eleni Rassias. Unlike "midwife" (who delivers the child) or "caregiver" (who tends to daily needs), a doula is the steady hand in the liminal space between life and death, the keeper of thresholds. She is the cool cloth on a laboring brow, the whispered reminder to breathe when pain blots out reason, the silent witness who knows when to hold space and when to step back—proof that the oldest form of medicine is not intervention, but presence.

noun

A trained support person who provides emotional, physical and practical assistance to a pregnant woman or couple before, during or after childbirth.“The function of the doula varies in different cultures from a little help here and there to complete succoring, including bathing, cooking, carrying, and feeding. Whatever the doula does, however, is less important than the fact that she is there.”
A trained person who provides similar support to someone who is diagnosed with an incurable condition and is receiving end-of-life care.