Amazona
am-uh-ZOH-nuh
Genus
Amazon (parrot) — named after the Amazon region or the legendary Amazons
Literally: Of the Amazons / Amazon-like
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazona | The Amazons — a legendary race of warrior women in Greek myth; also, the Amazon River and region of South America, from which many species in this genus originate | Greek Mythology / Latin (Amazon) | Latinized feminine noun, nominative singular, ending -a gives grammatical gender: feminine. The genus was erected by René Lesson in 1830 for the large New World parrots often called 'Amazon parrots'. |
A single-word genus name. 'Amazona' is a Latinized form of 'Amazon' (Greek Ἀμαζών, Amazōn), treated as a feminine Latin noun of the first declension (nominative singular -a). No epithet is given here — this is the genus name alone. Species epithets placed under this genus must agree in gender with the feminine noun or be formed as genitives or nouns in apposition.
Pronunciation
- am-uh-ZOH-nuh Penult rule 4: the penult vowel 'o' is long (open syllable before a single consonant), so the penult 'zo' is stressed. Final -a = 'uh'.
Commonly: am-uh-ZOH-nuh (common usage matches the formal pronunciation)
Other readings
Some authorities connect the name primarily to the Amazon River (itself named after the Amazons of legend, following Francisco de Orellana's 1542 expedition), emphasizing geography over mythology; both readings converge on the same root.
'Amazona' (as the root Amazōn) is not present as its own entry in the roots dictionary; identification is from well-established classical and taxonomic knowledge (confidence: high). The Greek original Ἀμαζών (Amazōn) has a disputed etymology — folk etymologies include Greek a- 'without' + mazos 'breast' (from a myth that the women removed one breast to draw a bow), but modern scholars consider this a folk etymology; the true origin may be Iranian or another non-Greek source. Amazona is a large genus of parrots (family Psittacidae), native to the Americas. It currently contains about 35 species, including the Yellow-headed Amazon (Amazona oratrix) and the Red-lored Amazon (Amazona autumnalis).