Ἀμαζών

The Greeks claimed that the word derives from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + μαζός (mazós, “breast”), in reference to the belief that Amazons cut off their right breast so that it might not hinder their ability to fire a bow or throw a spear. However, this is almost certainly a folk etymology; in art, Amazons are always shown with two intact breasts. The word is likely of foreign origin, perhaps an Ionian Greek pronunciation of the Old Persian word *hamazan- (“warrior”), as the Amazon women were known warriors. Ionians did not aspirate the first syllable, and the word became Amazon to the Greeks in general. It could also be native Greek, such as from a Proto-Indo-European *n̥-mn̥gʷ-yō (“manless one”), from Proto-Indo-European *mongʷyos (“man”) (compare Proto-Slavic *mǫžь), an explanation deemed unlikely by Hjalmar Frisk. Numerous other etymologies have been proposed, generally tracing the word back to Iranian, Greek or (West/East) Caucasian languages.

Ἀμαζών • (Amazṓn) f (genitive Ἀμαζόνος); third declension

1. (chiefly in the plural) Amazons, a mythical nation of female warriors from western Scythia.

• “Ἀμαζών”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Ἀμαζών”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Ἀμαζών in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Ἀμαζών in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• “Ἀμαζών”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • amazon idem, page 26.