Mardyker, noun
- Forms:
- Also Mardycka, Mardycker.
- Origin:
- Afrikaans, Dutch, MalayShow more Afrikaans, earlier Dutch Mardijker, from Malay Campon-Maredhika, an area in the East Indies; see quotation 1883.
historical
Usually in the plural : The name given by Dutch colonists to freed Malay slaves who fought with them against the indigenous peoples of the Cape, and later against the British, in the days of Dutch East India Company rule.
1883 ‘A Cape Colonist’ Cape Malays 3The word Mardycker needs some explanation. Valentyn says: ‘Mardycka, or Maredhika, in the East Indies belongs to Amboyna...Between the town Amboyna and Soya in the neighbourhood of the river Waytomo, there is a hamlet commonly called Campon-Maredhika, inhabited by strangers who first arrived with the Portuguese from the Moluccas proper, and were employed to help in strengthening the position of the latter against the Amboineese.’ On the same principle the Amsterdam Chamber was most anxious that free Malays should settle at the Cape to strengthen the position of the Dutch against the Hottentots and other natives, i.e., to be employed in a similar manner as the Mardyckers had been by the Portuguese at the Moluccas.
1971 L.G. Green Taste of S.-Easter 139Some free Malays attended Dutchmen of rank on visits to Europe and learnt to speak Dutch. Such men often remained at the Cape on their return and were known as Mardykers.
Usually in the plural :The name given by Dutch colonists to freed Malay slaves who fought with them against the indigenous peoples of the Cape, and later against the British, in the days of Dutch East India Company rule.
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