HOLATUR

chocolat-ure
holaturi
coloratura
holler at her
ho', later
holitur
holaturn
haul at her
holatue
haul a tour
hawlitzer
halter
whole, mature


Gah! Does anything here strike a chord with anybody? At all? I've been trying to think of likely mistakes. I think it's likely that either: the word ends in ---er,
or ---ure. Possibly --ur(something else), maybe n, was simply omitted. I think it is likely that the consonants are correct--unless the handwriting was difficult to read.
If there is no mistaking the handwriting, I would guess these consonants are correct, because each has its own distinctive sound, not easy to confuse, as, for example,
j and g. But that brings up the near-certainty that at least one letter has been omitted--but where? And what?

I've also been trying to add Southern pronunciations to various possibilities. Current, of course, since I don't know what it sounded like back then! "Hol" could be the equivalent of hall, haul, or haw(l). That led me to try and think of idioms from that time and locale, and again I came up short. Haw is a direction to turn left, but that doesn't seem to have much relevance here. I've tried thinking up characteristics used to describe slaves, and--
same result.