Amazon1
/ˈaməz(ə)n
/Origin
The river bore various names after it was first encountered by Europeans in 1500 and was finally called Amazon after a legendary race of female warriors believed to live on its banks.
In Greek legend the Amazons were a race of female warriors who were supposed to exist in the unexplored regions of the north. The word Amazon is Greek for ‘without a breast’, referring to the story that the women cut off their right breasts in order to draw their bows more easily. Nowadays an Amazon is any tall, strong, or athletic woman. The River Amazon was given its name by European explorers because of stories that a race of female warriors lived on its banks.
Amazon2
/ˈaməz(ə)n/- The ancient Herodotus thought the Amazons did exist, but were extinct by the time that he lived.
- The first theme relates to the Christian iconography of Charity, and the eighteenth-century cult of Nature, as we shall see; the second to classical mythology about virgin goddesses and warrior Amazons.
- Contrary to the myth that older women don't play sports, these Amazons all happen to be over 30.
- They are gorgeous, sexy, and tough as nails - amazons with attitude.
- Genus Amazona, family Psittacidae: numerous species.
- A very high proportion of Amazon parrots are threatened with extinction because of their slow rate of reproduction.
- Vocally they are distinct from other parrots although any Amazon in a mixed collection may mimic other sounds.
Origin
Late Middle English: via Latin from Greek Amazōn, explained by the Greeks as 'without a breast' (as if from a- 'without' + mazos 'breast'), referring to the fable that the Amazons cut off the right breast so as not to interfere with the use of a bow, but probably a folk etymology of an unknown foreign word.