Word Origin & History
amokin phrase to run amok first recorded 1670s, 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.]
Cf.
amuck.