section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The Amazon was initially known by Europeans as the Marañón, and the Peruvian part of the river is still known by that name, as well as the Brazilian state of Maranhão, which contains part of the Amazon. It later became known as Rio Amazonas in Spanish and Portuguese.
  
  The name Rio Amazonas was reportedly given after native warriors attacked a 16th-century expedition by Francisco de Orellana. The warriors were led by women, reminding de Orellana of the Amazon warriors, a tribe of women warriors related to Iranian Scythians and Sarmatians mentioned in Greek mythology.The word Amazon itself may be derived from the Iranian compound * ha-maz-an- "(one) fighting together" or ethnonym * ha-mazan- "warriors", a word attested indirectly through a derivation, a denominal verb in Hesychius of Alexandria 's gloss "ἁμαζακάραν· πολεμεῖν. Πέρσαι" (" hamazakaran: 'to make war' in Persian"), where it appears together with the Indo-Iranian root * kar- "make" (from which Sanskrit karma is also derived).
  
  Other scholars claim that the name is derived from the Tupi word amassona, meaning "boat destroyer". The name is an allusion to the strong tidal bore, pororoca with waves up to 4 m (13 ft) high that travel as much as 800 km (500 mi) inland upstream on the Amazon River and adjacent rivers, and which can easily capsize light craft.