Marooner

Spanish colonists called escaped African slaves cimarrones, meaning wild or untamed. The English and French shortened the word to maroons, referring to African bands that set up independent communities in isolated regions. As early as 1662, Jamaican pirates were called marooners – an appropriate name since they too lived in groups outside the law.

From the early 18th century, maroon also referred to a punishment in which the victim is abandoned in the wilds. It is possible that the punishment received this name because it was common among the marooners (pirates). (Rogozinski, Marooner)