amazonomachy
/ˌæməzəˈnɑməki/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 0.00 in modern English
33
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The usual themes are mythological, and of these certain ones enjoyed especial popularity. A few great mythical contests, viz., that of the Gods against the Giants, those of the Greeks against Centaurs, against Amazons, and against Trojans, supply subject matter to an impressively large number of decorative Greek sculptures. Of these themes the centauromachies and amazonomachies were the most often repeated."
- "Several substantial fragments of a sarcophagus decorated with an Amazonomachy are in the possession of the Fogg Museum of Harvard University. […] The composition of the scene on the front is in three parts, the usual division of groups on sarcophagi with Amazonomachies."
- "Amazons exist in order to be fought, and ultimately defeated, by men in an Amazonomachy ('Amazon-battle'). […] Heracles' ninth labour was to fetch the girdle of the Amazon queen, Hippolyte, resulting in another Amazonomachy[…]."
- "One of the earliest studies of this frieze was by Schober, who drew attention to the 'north' section and its depiction of soldiers and Amazons: these are not engaged in battle as they would be in a regular Amazonomachy, but instead are enjoying cordial relations, shaking hands and clasping shoulders[…]."
Etymology
Alteration of Amazonomachia, after -machy (suffix forming nouns with the sense ‘battle, fight’). Amazonomachia is either borrowed from French Amazonomachie or German Amazonomachie, or is a direct learned borrowing from their etymon Ancient Greek Ἀμαζονομᾰχῐ́ᾱ (Amazonomăkhĭ́ā), from Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn, “mythical female warrior from the Black Sea region”) (for further etymology see that entry) + μᾰ́χη (mắkhē, “battle, combat”) (either ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂gʰ- (“to fight”) or Pre-Greek) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌæməzəˈnɑməki/
- British English: /ˌæməzəˈnɒməki/