Amok, sometimes spelled amuck and often used as "running amok," is a Malay word which in this language means to be out of control. The word is used in English to refer to the behaviour of someone who, in the grip of strong emotion, obtains a weapon and begins killing people indiscriminately, continuing until they all victims are killed or the perpetrator is dead, often at his own hands. This could be used to describe the École Polytechnique Massacre, for example. The slang term going postal is similar in intent and much more common, at least in North America. Police describe such an event as a spree killing.
Various sources have at times associated the Malay race and a tendency to "amok". Some have attributed this association as being resultant of this word being the "only" Malay word borrowed into the english language. However, words like "kris", "agar", "batik", "Orang-utan", "padi" (paddy), "rambutan", "sagu" (sago) and "sarung" (sarong) are also words adopted from the Malay language into the English language so any such cause-effect relation must be studied.
The following is an example of a source which attributes the Malay race with a latent tendency to "amok" :
- "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" (W. W. Skeat).
The observations of Skeat about the Malay race are not unique since beserker myths and the Zulu battle trance are two other examples of the tendency of certain groups to work themselves up into a killing frenzy
Indeed the following excerpts, from an old encyclopaedia, reveal this fact well :
- Though so intimately associated with the Malay there is some ground for believing the word to have an Indian origin, and the act is certainly far from unknown in Indian history. Some notable cases have occurred among the Rajputs. Thus, in 1634, the eldest son of the raja of Jodhpur ran amok at the court of Shah JahanShah Jahan ( January 5, 1592 January 22, 1666) was the ruler of the Mughal Empire in India from 1627 until 1658. He commissioned the building of the Taj Mahal in Agra, as a burial place for his first wife Empress Mumtaz Mahal (meaning 'the first lady of t, failing in his attack on the emperor, but killing five of his officials. During the 18th century17th century 18th century 19th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701- 1800; however, historians will sometimes specifically refer to the 18th Century as 1715- 89,, again, at HyderabadCities in Pakistan Sindh Hyderbd is a city in Sindh, a province of Pakistan (also formerly known as Nehrun Kot . Formerly the capital of Sindh and known as the city of perfumes, it is now a regional headquarter of the district of Hyderabad. It was formerl (Sind), two envoys, sent by the Jodhpur chief in regard to a quarrel between the two states, stabbed the prince and twenty-six of his suite before they themselves fell.
- In MalabarMalabar is a region along the southwest coast of the Indian peninsula, which forms the northern part of present-day Kerala state. The region was a part of the Madras presidency until the Indian state of Kerala was formed in 1956, when this area and the er there were certain professional assassins known to old travellers as Amouchi or Amuco. The nearest modern equivalent to these words would seem to be the Malayalim Amar-khan, "a warrior" (from amar, "fight"). The Malayalam term chaver applied to these ruffians meant literally those "who devote themselves to death." In Malabar was a custom by which the zamorinZamorin a title of the kings of Kozhikode (Calicut) The Samoothiri Raja (anglicized as Zamorin) were the erstwhile rulers of Kozhikode (Calicut). Manavikraman Raja the Samoothiri of Kozikode received the first European ( Vasco da Gama) to visit India by t or king of Calicut had to cut his throat in public when he had reigned twelve years. In the 17th century16th century 17th century 18th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601- 1700. During this period, the power of England and the United Provinces increased; while that of a variation in his fate was made. He had to take his seat, after a great feast lasting twelve days, at a national assembly, surrounded by his armed suite, and it was lawful for anyone to attack him, and if he succeeded in killing him the murderer himself became zamorinZamorin a title of the kings of Kozhikode (Calicut) The Samoothiri Raja (anglicized as Zamorin) were the erstwhile rulers of Kozhikode (Calicut). Manavikraman Raja the Samoothiri of Kozikode received the first European ( Vasco da Gama) to visit India by t (see Alex. Hamilton, "A new Account of the East Indies," in Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, viii. 374). In 1600 thirty would-be assassins were killed in their attempts. These men were called Amar-khan, and it has been suggested that their action was "running amok" in the true Malay sense. Another proposed derivation for amouchi is Sanskrit amokshya, "that cannot be loosed," suggesting that the murderer was bound by a vow, an explanation more than once advanced for the Malay amok; but amokshya in such a sense is unknown in Malayalim.
Initial text from an old encyclopedia. Please update as needed.
Amok is also the title of a 1922 novel by Stefan Zweig.
John Brunner's book Stand on Zanzibar describes a society that is so overcrowded that people running amok (there called muckers) are so common everyone arms themselves (of course making the problem worse).
