A bit more on "macaca" linguistically

[joemurphy]

I'm guessing it's the same word as Eng. macaque, referring to a genus
of Old World monkeys. I've never heard of it as a term of abuse in
English, but it's not hard to imagine. Cf. Portuguese macaca 'female
monkey; ugly woman; bad luck'.

I also liked this from Partridge's Dictionary of Historical Slang:


murkarker, murkauker: A monkey (ca 1850-80, low coll seldom heard
outside London, Ex Jack Macauco or Maccacco, a famous fighting monkey
of ca 1840-5 at the Westminster Pit).

And this on "Jack Macauco":

<http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=164373&imageID=429013>