Where does the term 'amok' come from as in 'running amok'?

Answer 1

All the others have good academic answers. Mine is a bit different:
Amuck: I am running amuck, this is amucked up mess, and muck it, this will never clean up as in amucked up duck.
Have a great evening and try not to quack up over night.
Chuckie Amuckie

Answer 2

Amok, sometimes spelled amuck and often used as "running amok," is a Malay word which, in that language, means to be out of control. In the Philippines the concept is known as juramentado.

It is often used in English to refer to the behaviour of someone who, in the grip of strong emotion, obtains a weapon and begins attacking people indiscriminately, often with multiple fatalities. The slang term going postal is similar in intent and more common, particularly in North America. Police describe such an event as a spree killing.

Some sources have identified Malays as having a particular tendency to run amok, making this an example of a culture-bound syndrome, but they are by no means the only people to do so. For example, W. W. Skeat writes in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica: "A Malay will suddenly and apparently without reason rush into the street armed with a kris or other weapons, and slash and cut at everybody he meets till he is killed. These frenzies were formerly regarded as due to sudden insanity. It is now, however, certain that the typical amok is the result of circumstances, such as domestic jealousy or gambling losses, which render a Malay desperate and weary of his life. It is, in fact, the Malay equivalent of suicide. The act of running amuck is probably due to causes over which the culprit has some amount of control, as the custom has now died out in the British possessions in the peninsula, the offenders probably objecting to being caught and tried in cold blood."

Answer 3

I'm late again, so it's a repeat I'm affraid.

Amok, sometimes spelled amuck and often used as "running amok," is a Malay word which, in that language, means to be out of control.

Answer 4

amok
in phrase to run amok first recorded 1672, from Malay amuk "attacking furiously." Earlier the word was used as a noun or adj. meaning "a frenzied Malay," originally in the Port. form amouco or amuco.
"There are some of them [the Javanese] who ... go out into the streets, and kill as many persons as they meet. ... These are called Amuco." ["The Book of Duarte Barbosa: An Account of the Countries Bordering on the Indian Ocean and Their Inhabitants," c.1516, Eng. transl.]

Answer 5

The word came from the early 16th century, directly or via Portuguese am(o)uco (from Malay amuk "fighting frenziedly").

See http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861585228/amok.html .

Answer 6

It's Malayan, and thus probably arrived in English via the British Empire - early 19 century, I should think.