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"What's A'Melungeon'?

Some dictionary definitions:

Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1981): melungeon, also malungeon: (me'lenjen -s) usu. cap[origin unknown]: one of a group of people of mixed Indian, white, and Negro ancestry in the southern Appalachians esp. of eastern Tennessee.

American Heritage Dictionary: Me.lun.geon (melun'jen) n. One of a small group of dark skinned people of uncertain origin living in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. [Origin uncertain.]
Dictionary of the English Language (1981): While 'origin unknown' is still the most-certain conclusion, it is variously supposed the term comes from (1) the French melange, 'mixing/mixture' or 'blending/blend,' (2)the Greek IleAas melas, 'dark' or 'black,' or (3) the African-Portuguese melungo or mulango, perhaps meaning 'shipmate'.

Some say the term is a sixteenth-century African-Portuguese (Berber/Moorish) word meaning simply 'white person.'"