The Amazons were a race of all female warriors and a matriarchy. Traditionally, they “borrowed” men for their purposes, and they either exposed or sent away all male children after they were weaned.

While no one’s certain of the origin of the word, some people think that Amazon comes from the Greek “a mazos” which means “without breast”. Due to the fact that the Amazons supposedly cut off one of their breasts to be able to fire a bow and arrow without it getting in the way! It’s probably not true though, one of those convenient explanations.

The word has also be traced back to the word “Amazigh” which is the singular form of a tribe living in North Africa. Since the word means “free men” in various Berber languages, it’s possible that this has something to do with where the name for the Amazon River came from, but I won’t pretend to know much about linguistics.

Interesting derivation on genial (and xenophobia, of course). The other one I’m curious about is ‘Amazon’, because obviously our modern-day of Amazonian women is tinted by our knowledge of the South American Amazon — but back then, Amazonian would have simply meant ‘big, muscly women’?

What’s the derivation on ‘amazon’ I wonder — and I assume the river was named after it?