Editing Amazons (section)

===Etymology===
[[File:Departure of the Amazons MET DP318355.jpg|thumb|''Departure of the Amazons'', by [[Claude Deruet]], 1620, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York]]
The origin of the word is uncertain.<ref name="Blok1995">{{cite book|author=J. H. Blok|title=The Early Amazons: Modern and Ancient Perspectives on a Persistent Myth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vHzLgcqHzQcC|year=1995|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-10077-6}}</ref> It may be derived from an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] [[ethnonym]] ''*ha-mazan-'' 'warriors', a word attested indirectly through a derivation, a denominal verb in [[Hesychius of Alexandria]]'s gloss {{lang|grc|"ἁμαζακάραν· πολεμεῖν. Πέρσαι"}} ("''{{transliteration|grc|hamazakaran}}'': 'to make war' in Persian"), where it appears together with the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]] root ''*kar-'' 'make'.<ref name="Blok1995"/>

It may alternatively be a Greek word descended from {{lang|ine-x-proto|*n̥-mn̥gʷ-yō-nós}} 'manless, without husbands' ([[alpha privative]] combined with a derivation from ''[[Man (word)|*man-]]'' cognate with [[Proto-Balto-Slavic language|Proto-Balto-Slavic]] ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Balto-Slavic/mangjás|*mangjá-]]'', found in Czech ''muž'') has been proposed, an explanation deemed "unlikely" by [[Hjalmar Frisk]]. A further explanation proposes Iranian *''ama-janah'' 'virility-killing' as source.<ref>{{harvnb|Hinge|2005|pp=94–98}}</ref>

Among the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]], the term ''Amazon'' was popularly [[folk etymology|folk etymologized]] as originating from the Greek {{lang|el|ἀμαζός}}, ''{{Lang|grc-latn|amazos}}'' ('breastless'), from -''a'' ('without') and ''{{Lang|grc-latn|mazos}}'', a variant of ''{{Lang|grc-latn|mastos}}'' ('breast'),<ref>{{Cite web |title=amazon {{!}} Etymology, origin and meaning of the name amazon by etymonline |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Amazon |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=www.etymonline.com |language=en}}</ref> connected with an [[etiology|etiological]] tradition once claimed by [[Justin (historian)|Marcus Justinus]] who alleged that Amazons had their right [[mastectomy|breast cut off]] or [[breast ironing|burnt out]].<ref name="Patou-mathis2020">{{cite book|author=[[Marylène Patou-Mathis|Marylene Patou-Mathis]]|title=L'homme préhistorique est aussi une femme|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsX-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT313|date=1 October 2020|publisher=Allary éditions|isbn=978-2-37073-342-9|pages=313–}}</ref> There is no indication of such a practice in ancient works of art,<ref name=Mayor>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-amazons-lives--legends-of-warrior-women-across-the-ancient-world-by-adrienne-mayor-book-review-9799090.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020043426/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-amazons-lives--legends-of-warrior-women-across-the-ancient-world-by-adrienne-mayor-book-review-9799090.html |archive-date=2014-10-20 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title=The Amazons: Lives & Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor, book review|last=Haynes|first=Natalie|date=16 October 2014|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=6 April 2015}}</ref> in which the Amazons are always represented with both breasts, although one is frequently covered.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Amazons|volume=1|pages=790–791}}</ref> According to [[Philostratus]], Amazon babies were not fed just with the right breast.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/3565 | title= Flavius Philostratus, On Heroes | publisher= The Center for Hellenic Studies | date= August 5, 2019 | author= Flavius Philostratus, Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, Jennifer K. Berenson Maclean | access-date= January 10, 2021 | archive-date= January 26, 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210126022746/https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/3565 | url-status= dead }}</ref> Author [[Adrienne Mayor]] suggests that the false etymology led to the myth.<ref name=Mayor/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05plghp|title=The Amazons - Adrienne Mayor |publisher= BBC Radio Four|date= 6 April 2015 }}</ref>