This explains why the word ‘Amazon’ comes from the Classical Greek a- (ἀ-) and mazos (μαζός), which is best translated as ‘without breast’. The word was famously appropriated by the online bookseller of the same name. Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, claims that he made the choice because it sounded ‘exotic and different’, whereas I suspect that he was attracted to the word’s etymology. How perfect that the name of a corporate trillion-dollar tech giant run by a predominantly male board of directors literally means ‘No Breasts’.
