Rodrigo ha scripte:
>Il me pare que vos scribeva re le "mamelucos" iste dies...
>http://www.artehistoria.com/genios/cuadros/14.htm

Io finalmente consulta mi dictionario de portugese, que dice:
~~~
mameluco. [Del arabe _mamluk_, 'sclavo, servo'.]
S. m.
1. Soldato de un militia turco-egyptie primemente constituite de sclavos,
mais que posteriormente ha devenite senior del Egypto, essente vincite per
Napoleon, in le battalia del Pyramides, e exterminate per Mehemet-Ali in
1811.
2. (Bras.) Filio de indiano con blanco. (...)
~~~

Le Encyclopaedia Britannica
(http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=51634&tocid=0) dice:
~~~
mameluco
(from _mamaruca_, Indian for "half-breed"), in colonial Brazil, especially
in the São Paulo district, a person of mixed Indian and white ancestry.
The reputation of _mamelucos_ for cruelty toward Indians, supposedly
reminiscent of the Mamluks, a Muslim military caste of Southwest Asia and
Egypt in medieval and early modern times, prompted the use of the term.
Mamelucos usually worked on fazendas (plantations) or as artisans or
traders and were comparable to the mestizos in Spanish America. Others of
mixed ancestry in Brazil were mulattoes (Negro and white) and cafusos
(Indian and Negro; called zambos in Spanish America).
~~~
(In orthographia portugese: "mulatos" e "cafuzos".)

Mamelucamente,
Ensjo.