Amok (perhaps more often spelled "amuck") entered the US vocabulary in the Spanish American War in the Philippines. There our soldiers encountered Muslims who suddenly went into a murderous killing spree, and had to be killed like mad dogs. So the cliché is to "run amuck", as hyperbole for just "get over excited".

Is the phrase "to run amok" akin to the Norse "to go berserk"?

Y'all better recruit dxb from up there in Miscellany.

Dear shanks: first let me say I rejoice to see you posting again, mostly because you are so well informed.
"Run amok" and "go beserk" are akin as far as meaning that the men involved exerted themselves to the utmost, and were totally indifferent to wounds inflicted on them.
But the Norsemen who went beserk did it only in battle.
The Moslems in the Philippines I believe were attacking only
those whom they regarded as infidels, and singly rather than as part of a military attack.

Translated from Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (The Great Indonesian Dictionary):

amuk n. unrest involving many people (e.g. civil war)
beramuk v. 1. mengamuk 2. beramuk-amuk 3. metaphor be in uproar, chaos, be impassioned (of speech}
beramuk-amuk (classic) v. fight in combat (contend, struggle, clash, etc), challenge the enemy, stab
beramuk-amukan v. beramuk each other, stab each other
mengamukv. 1 attack blindly and at random (because of anger, blind rage, etc.) 2. metaphorbe in uproar, worsen (of a storm); 3. metaphor overwhelm
mengamukkan v. cause or allow to mengamuk
amukan n. blind and random attack.
pengamuk person who mengamuk
pengamukan process or action of mengamuk


I don't think it's exclusive to Muslims, Dr. Bill, or directed particularly at non-Muslims. I think the word is usually used of Javanese or Balinese. Most but not all Javanese are Muslims, most but not all Balinese are Hindus.

Bingley

Extremely interesting, Bingley!

So, by extension, I see that one can not only run amok, but walk amok, yes?