As short as it is, this myth has clear parallels with the legend of the Amazons, those female warriors of ancient Greek myth, who were said to dwell in Scythia, the land that is now the Ukraine, Crimea, and northernmost Caucasus.  They fought in a savage frenzy, maimed or killed all their male children, and usually were killed in battle.  The name amazon had a Greek folk etymology: a- “not,” maz- “breast,” –on “being,” meaning the one without (a) breast(s)—an allusion to the belief that the Amazons removed the right breasts of their baby girls so that they would better be able to draw their bows in adulthood.  A hypothetical Iranian word, a-maz-an “the warriors,” has also been suggested as lying behind the Greek word.  All this becomes transparent if one turns to the Circassian myth.

Because she rules the forest, Lady Nart Sana bears the epithet of the “Forest Mother.”  In Circassian, this translates as a-maz-ahn, pronounced “Amazon,” precisely as in Greek (the last vowel is long is both languages).  Furthermore, some scholars have taken note of an obscure link between Greek Amazons and an old figure of the moon called Moon Mother.  This apparently marginal interpretation is the direct result of homonymy with Circassian pronunciation.  The Moon Mother would be a-maaza-ahn, with maaza “moon” instead of maz “forest.”  By Circassian rules of pronunciation, however, this is pronounced just like the “Forest Mother.”  Both are Amazon.  Thus, the confusion merely reflects features of ancient Circassian pronunciation, preserved even today in their dialects.

We can now see the ancient Greek myths surrounding the Amazons as borrowings from the lore of the ancient Circassians, undoubtedly by way of the Greek trading ports on the Circassian coast of the Black Sea.  The medicinal and beneficent aspects of the Forest Mother, as well as the significance of her name, were lost to the Greeks, so that what has come down to us is merely the image of a race of fierce, enigmatic women warriors.  The oldest form of the Caucasian myth most likely conformed to something like Lady Tree, wherein the procreative and intellectual powers of womankind are embodied in the vital image of the cosmos-encompassing tree.  The Forest Mother would merely be an extension of this central figure, a specialization of the all-powerful form into one concerned with fermentation, battle frenzy (induced by the resulting brew), and healing (initially of battle wounds).  The tendency to represent intellectual and magical powers with a woman accords well with the high status accorded women in Circassian society.  The ancient representation of this powerful goddess as a tree is more widespread, but in conjunction with the female motifs of the Caucasus one might see a Caucasian origin for tree veneration as well.