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The ancient Amazons were women warriors who were admired and feared for their ferocity in battle. Their name was given to the South American river, and, just recently, to the giant e-book-and-everything-else seller. How does the word amazon connect these elements?
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Piece Description
The ancient Amazons were women warriors who were admired and feared for their ferocity in battle. Their name was given to the South American river, and, just recently, to the giant e-book-and-everything-else seller. How does the word amazon connect these elements?
Broadcast History
"Chrysti the Wordsmith" two-minute weekday modules are produced at KGLT Montana
State University- Bozeman, and broadcast in Montana and Wyoming on
Yellowstone Public Radio and Montana Public Radio, in Salt Lake City on KCPW, and internationally
on the Armed Forces Radio and TV Network.
Transcript
Amazon
The word Amazon does triple duty as the name of a race of mythical warrior women, a South American river, and the name of an e-commerce leviathon, amazon.com. What?s the connection here?
The Amazons, a legendary tribe of women living in the Caucausus Mountains, were admired throughout the ancient world for their skill in battle. Talented archers and fearless in combat, the Amazons fought on the side of Troy in the Trojan war.
The myth persists to this day that the Amazons were so dedicated to warfare that they cut or burned off their right breasts in order to more skillfully draw a bow-string. This account is reinforced by a theory that Amazon comes from a Greek word meaning ?without a breast.? But most word scholars dismiss the idea, convinced instead that Amazon derives from an Iranian term that means ?fighting together.?
In 1541, the Spa...
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