Amazon Women
I have a request. Can somebody please investigate the origin of the term ¨Amazon women¨ and post their findings in a comment on this blog? Having been in the Amazon earlier in April, I can testify that the women there are not Xena look-alikes; they are anything but tall and broad-shouldered.
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From wikipedia:
This word is probably derived from the Iranian ethnonym *ha-mazan-, originally meaning "warriors". A connected word is probably the Hesychius of Alexandria gloss ἁμαζακάραν· πολεμεῖν. Πέρσαι ("hamazakaran: 'to make war' (Persian)", containing the Indo-Iranian root kar- "make" also in kar-ma).
The Greek variant of the name was connected by popular etymology to a- (privative) + mazos, "without breast", connected with an aetiological tradition that Amazons had their right breast cut off or burnt out, so they would be able to use the bow more freely and throw spears without the physical limitation and obstruction; there is no indication of this practice in works of art, in which the Amazons are always represented with both breasts, although the right is frequently covered. Other suggested derivations were: a- (intensive) + mazos, breast, "full-breasted"; a- (privative) and masso, touch, "not touching" (men); maza, a Circassian word said to signify "moon", has suggested their connection with the worship of a moon-goddess, perhaps the Asiatic representative of Artemis. According to John Colarusso,[1] the Circassian word a-maz(ə)-áh-na, pronounced like the Greek Amazon (stress on the last syllable), means 'mother-of-the-forest', but could also intepreted as 'moon mother'.[2]
And the reason that river is named the Amazon is:
The name Amazon is said to arise from a battle which Francisco de Orellana had with a tribe of Tapuyas where the women of the tribe fought alongside the men, as was the custom among the entire tribe. Another theory credits the name to Orellana mistaking indigenous men wearing "grass skirts" as women. Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the ancient Amazons of Asia and Africa described by Herodotus and Diodorus in Greek legends.
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