mameluke

See also: Mameluke

English

Alternative forms

• Mamaluke, mamaluke, mameluk, Mameluke, Mamluk, mamluk, mamluke, mammaluke
• memlook

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French mamelouk, ultimately from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Arabic مَمْلُوك (mamlūk, “slave”) (literally "possessed"), passive participle of مَلَكَ (malaka, “to possess, to acquire”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaməluːk/

Noun

mameluke (plural mamelukes)

1. A member of a military regime created and run originally by freed white slaves, which formed a ruling caste in Egypt from 1250 until 1812 and in Syria until 1516.
   • Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p.574:

     He first smashed the native Mameluke army at the battle of the Pyramids on 21 July, and secured lower Egypt before leading an expedition in Syria against Turkish forces.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 278:

     The Mamluks, who seized power in Egypt in 1250, were a caste of men captured for military service, so they drew their identity from their defence of Islam against its enemies.

2. (obsolete) A slave (especially white) in a Muslim country.
   • 1888, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 1:

     Having accepted this advice the King forthwith bade prepare handsome gifts, such as horses with saddles of gem encrusted gold; Mamelukes, or white slaves; beautiful handmaids, high breasted virgins, and splendid stuffs and costly.

Translations

A member of a military regime created and run originally by freed white slaves

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: مملوك m (mamlūk)

• Armenian: մամելյուկ (hy) (mamelyuk)
• Portuguese: mameluco (pt) m
• Russian: мамлю́к (ru) (mamljúk)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: mameluco c
• Swedish: mamluk (sv) c
• Tagalog: mameluko

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French

Adjective

mameluke

1. feminine singular of mameluk