Marmaluc' is Italian for a Marmaluke who is anyone who thinks he or she is hot shit. It comes from the Marmalukes who as Muslims couldn't use other Muslims as slaves, so they would go into a conquered city and have the parents bring out their young children to the street as they rode by inspecting them. Then upon spotting a child that seemed bright they would take that child screaming from the parents away to Egypt. There they would be given the equivalent of a Harvard degree and shown the Palace they could live in if they would become, say, the royal accountant etc. So they go back to their native lands strutting and all dressed in the most refined clothes to get their parents to go and live with them in opulence in Egypt. The locals didn't see these people as role models, but merely as sell outs.
Italian or Italian-American slang for someone who did something foolish or silly. Usually aimed at males, and usually not in an overly hostile manner. More a term to use with a friend or family member in a teasing way that may also be a veiled insult against their manhood.
When a father calls his son a mamaluke, the word is often followed by a swift palm-smack against the back of the head.
May have originally come from Mameluke or Mamluke - Arab mercenaries who were most powerful from about the 13th to 16th centuries. Napoleon used these cavalry warriors as well. Their uniforms; white turbans, vests, red pants and equally colorful boots, may well have spurred the foolish, silly and/or unmanly label.