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[edit] Etymology

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 a 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) 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 be interpreted as 'moon mother'.[2]


  1. ^ Colarusso, "Myths from the forests of Circassia", The World and I 1989.
  2. ^ Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, p. 138; Daniel G. Brinton, The Protohistoric Ethnography of Western Asia, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1895), calls them a "Hittite class of priestesses", deriving the Circassian word from an Indo-European word for "moon" (Sanskrit māsa).