Amazon

See also: amazon

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English, from Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn); perhaps Ionian Greek pronunciation of Old Persian *hamazan- (warrior), as the Amazon women were known warriors. A popular folk etymology, of Ancient Greek provenance, claims that the word derives from ἀ- (a-, not) + μαζός (mazós, breast), referencing the belief that Amazons cut off their right breast so that it would not hinder their ability to fire a bow or throw a spear.

Noun

Amazon (plural Amazons)

  1. (Greek mythology) A member of a mythical race of female warriors inhabiting the Black Sea area.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 149:
      When, therefore, one envisions a matriarchy, one should not conjure up visions of a gang of Amazons lopping off breasts and testicles to rule by force of arms.
  2. A female warrior.
  3. A tall, strong, or athletic woman.
Translations
See also

Etymology 2

From Spanish, Río Amazonas. It is common belief that the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana fought a battle against a tribe of Tapuya natives, in which the women fought alongside the men, and that he derived the name from the Amazons in Greek mythology.

Proper noun

the Amazon

  1. (sometimes attributive) A river in South America that flows through Brazil for about 4000 miles to the South Atlantic.
  2. (sometimes attributive) A region including much of this river; specifically, the region of the Amazon Rainforest, or of the Amazon River Basin.
    Amazon milk frog
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

Amazon (plural Amazons)

  1. Any of the large parrots from the genus Amazona.

Etymology 3

Chosen by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as a word beginning with 'A' which had existing connotations (see meanings listed in etymologies 1 & 2) of being exotic, different, and (as the Amazon River) the largest of its kind in the world.[1]

Proper noun

Amazon

  1. Amazon.com Inc, a very large Internet retailer.

Verb

Amazon (third-person singular simple present Amazons, present participle Amazoning, simple past and past participle Amazoned)

  1. (transitive) To overwhelm or obliterate, in the context of an Internet start-up vastly outperforming its brick and mortar competition.
    • 1998, George Anders, "Discomfort Zone: Some Big Companies Long to Embrace Web But Settle for Flirtation They Fear Online Marketing Could Cause Sales Staffs And Distributors to Rebel A Risk of Getting Amazoned", The Wall Street Journal, 1998-11-04, p. A1.
      Those who hesitate risk being "amazoned," forfeiting business to an Internet newcomer, in the way that bookstore chains have lost ground to Amazon.com Inc., the online bookseller.
    • 1999, Andrew Wileman, "Smart cookies: Get set to Amazon", Management Today. Aug 1999, p. 79
      Venture capitalists' desks are thick with business plans promising ‘we're going to Amazon the insurance/travel/property business...’
    • 1999, Tim Smith, InternetWeek (786), "Getting Customers Totally Integrated Cisco CIO Pete Solvik", 1999-10-25, p. 98
      Take the example of MetalSite.com, which is owned by steel companies. The steel companies aren't getting "Amazoned" by a start-up but, rather, they are doing the "Amazoning" within their own industry.
    • 1999, "Amazon Expands", InternetWeek (789), 1999-11-15, p. 11
      Amazon.com may soon be "amazoning" a few more industries.
    • 2000, Bob Tedeschi, "E-Commerce Report: Web and catalog businesses are crossing into storefront territory, creating parallel avenues of retailing", The New York Times, 2000-11-20, p. C12
      Gone are the days when they agonized about being "Amazoned", or blind-sided by a dot-com ....
    • 2001, Saul Hansell, "Web Sales of Airline Tickets Are Making Hefty Advances", The New York Times, 2001-07-04, p. A1
      In other industries, established companies are pulling people and money away from their Internet operations, as their fear of being "Amazoned" by start-ups has subsided.
    • 2001, Steve Lohr, "Gearhead Nation: A Time Out for Technophilia", The New York Times, 2001-11-18, p. WK4
      Meanwhile, traditional companies would be obliterated "Amazoned" by Internet upstarts.
    • 2002, Scott Harris, "Roots in Israel, Head in Silicon Valley", The New York Times, 2002-06-30, p. B8
      "Everybody was afraid of getting Amazoned," Mr. Landan said. "They didn't want to get left behind."

References

  1. Ann Byers, Jeff Bezos: the founder of amazon.com, pp. 46-7, Rosen Publishing Group, 2007, →ISBN

Finnish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɑmɑtson/, [ˈɑmɑts̠o̞n]
  • IPA(key): /ˈɑmɑzon/, [ˈɑmɑzo̞n]

Proper noun

Amazon

  1. Amazon (river)

Declension

Inflection of Amazon (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative Amazon
genitive Amazonin
partitive Amazonia
illative Amazoniin
singular plural
nominative Amazon
accusative nom. Amazon
gen. Amazonin
genitive Amazonin
partitive Amazonia
inessive Amazonissa
elative Amazonista
illative Amazoniin
adessive Amazonilla
ablative Amazonilta
allative Amazonille
essive Amazonina
translative Amazoniksi
instructive
abessive Amazonitta
comitative
Possessive forms of Amazon (type risti)
possessor singular plural
1st person Amazonini Amazonimme
2nd person Amazonisi Amazoninne
3rd person Amazoninsa

Compounds


Japanese

Romanization

Amazon

  1. Rōmaji transcription of アマゾン

Latin

Etymology

from Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn)

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /aˈmaːz.zoːn/, [äˈmäːz̪d̪͡z̪oːn]
  • (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /aˈmad.d͡zon/, [äˈmäd̪ː͡z̪on]

Noun

Amāzōn f (genitive Amāzonis); third declension

  1. an Amazon
  2. a female warrior

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative Amāzōn Amāzones
Genitive Amāzonis Amāzonum
Dative Amāzonī Amāzonibus
Accusative Amāzonem
Amāzona
Amāzonas
Ablative Amāzone Amāzonibus
Vocative Amāzōn Amāzones

References

  • Amazon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • Amazon”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • Amazon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 109/3
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