78-583: Circaetus , the snake eagles , is a genus of medium-sized eagles in the bird of prey family Accipitridae . They are mainly resident African species, but the migratory short-toed snake eagle breeds from the Mediterranean basin into Russia , the Middle East and India , and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and east to Indonesia . Snake eagles are found in open habitats like cultivated plains arid savanna, but require trees in which to build
156-577: A Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered
234-436: A 6.8 kg (15 lb) mule deer fawn. However, a few eagles may target prey considerably heavier than themselves; such prey is too heavy to fly with, thus it is either eaten at the site of the kill or taken in pieces back to a perch or nest. Golden and crowned eagles have killed ungulates weighing up to 30 kg (66 lb) and a martial eagle even killed a 37 kg (82 lb) duiker , 7–8 times heavier than
312-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,
390-459: A close genetic relationship with Haliastur and Milvus ; the whole group is only distantly related to the Buteo group. Fish eagles exist in every continent throughout the world, except for South America. Although fish eagles can be found in many different places around the world, they have been classified as "Near Threatened". Reasons such as overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction, and
468-508: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on
546-406: A forceful symbol in national identity and imagery is demonstrated by its widespread usage. Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized : Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized : Hellēnikḗ ) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It
624-473: A large part of their diets, either fresh or as carrion. Proposed subfamily Haliaeetinae. Genera: Haliaeetus , Icthyophaga . Some authors include Gypohierax angolensis , the "vulturine fish eagle" (also called the palm-nut vulture ) in this group. However, genetic analyses indicate it is related to a grouping of Neophron – Gypaetus – Eutriorchis ( Egyptian vulture , bearded vulture (lammergeier), and Madagascar serpent eagle ). The fish eagles have
702-590: A lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and
780-400: A limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in the nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by
858-459: A mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and a fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes ,
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#1732779557194936-424: A natural group but denote essentially any kind of bird of prey large enough to hunt sizeable (about 50 cm long or more overall) vertebrates . The word "eagle" is borrowed into English from Anglo-Norman : eagle and Middle French : aigle , both derived ultimately from Latin : aquila ("eagle"). It is cognate with terms such as French : aigle , Portuguese : águia and Spanish : águila . It
1014-460: A state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in the early 19th century that
1092-454: A stick nest. The single egg is incubated mainly or entirely by the female. Circaetus eagles have a rounded head and broad wings. They prey on reptiles , mainly snakes , but also take lizards and occasionally small mammals . The genus Circaetus was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot to accommodate a single species, the short-toed snake eagle , which
1170-697: Is after all a two-edged sword. All hawks seem to have this habit, from the smallest kestrel to the largest Ferruginous – but not the Eagles. Among the eagles are some of the largest birds of prey: only the condors and some of the Old World vultures are markedly larger. It is regularly debated which should be considered the largest species of eagle. They could be measured variously in total length, body mass, or wingspan. Different lifestyle needs among various eagles result in variable measurements from species to species. For example, many forest-dwelling eagles, including
1248-616: Is also often used in Christian iconography to represent the Gospel of John , and eagle-shaped lecterns are common in Anglican and some Roman Catholic churches . The eagle was believed to be able to look directly into the sun in the same way that the Gospel of John looks directly at Jesus' divinity, and the great distances the eagle flies represent the spread of the gospel to the ends of
1326-467: Is broadly synonymous with the less common English term "erne" or "earn", deriving from Middle English : ern , from Old English : earn , in which it acts as the usual word for the bird. The Old English term is turn derived from Proto-Germanic : * arnuz and is cognate with other synonymous words in Germanic languages such as Swedish : örn , German : Aar and Gothic : ara . Through
1404-718: Is comparable in size to a common buzzard ( Buteo buteo ) or red-tailed hawk ( B. jamaicensis ), have relatively longer and more evenly broad wings, and more direct, faster flight, despite the reduced size of their aerodynamic feathers. Most eagles are larger than any other raptors , apart from some vultures . The smallest species of eagle is the Great Nicobar serpent eagle ( Spilornis klossi ), at 450 g (1 lb) and 40 cm (16 in). The largest species are discussed below. Like all birds of prey, eagles have very large hooked beaks for ripping flesh from their prey, strong, muscular legs, and powerful talons . The beak
1482-683: Is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek
1560-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,
1638-697: Is the common name for the golden eagle , bald eagle , and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae . Eagles belong to several groups of genera , some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus Aquila . Most of the 68 species of eagles are from Eurasia and Africa . Outside this area, just 14 species can be found—two in North America , nine in Central and South America , and three in Australia . Eagles are not
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#17327795571941716-521: Is therefore considered the type species . The genus name is from the Ancient Greek kirkos , a type of hawk, and aetos , "eagle". The genus contains six species. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Circaetus rhodopensis (late Miocene of Bulgaria) Circaetus haemusensis (early Pleistocene of Bulgaria) Eagle See text Eagle
1794-632: Is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near the Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in
1872-401: Is typically heavier than that of most other birds of prey. Eagles' eyes are extremely powerful. It is estimated that the wedge-tailed eagle has a visual acuity twice that of a typical human. This acuity enables eagles to spot potential prey from a very long distance. This keen eyesight is primarily attributed to their extremely large pupils which ensure minimal diffraction (scattering) of
1950-562: The British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of the membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in
2028-657: The European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute the objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek
2106-781: The Holy Roman Empire . The eagle of the Holy Roman Empire was two-headed, supposedly representing the two divisions, East and West , of the old Roman Empire. This motif, derived from the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire was also adopted by the Russian Empire and is still featured in the Flag of Albania . The Roman eagle was preceded by the eagle of Ptolemaic Egypt and the Achaemenid Empire . In
2184-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as
2262-485: The Proto-Indo-European root, it is further related to words such as Greek : ὄρνις ("bird") and Lithuanian : erelis ("eagle"). Although "erne" can be used to refer to any eagle, it is most commonly used for the golden eagle or sea-eagle. Eagles are large, powerfully-built birds of prey , with heavy heads and beaks. Even the smallest eagles, such as the booted eagle ( Hieraaetus pennatus ), which
2340-652: The United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout the Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to
2418-429: The buteonine black-chested buzzard-eagle of South America, may assume the position of top raptorial predator in open areas. Many other eagles, including the species-rich genus Spizaetus , live predominantly in woodlands and forests. These eagles often target various arboreal or ground-dwelling mammals and birds, which are often unsuspectingly ambushed in such dense, knotty environments. Hunting techniques differ among
Circaetus - Misplaced Pages Continue
2496-468: The genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in the ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in
2574-417: The syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow the noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However,
2652-566: The 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as
2730-544: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit
2808-549: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in
2886-480: The Iberian Peninsula. Booted eagles or "true eagles" have feathered tarsi (lower legs). Tribe Aquililae or proposed subfamily Aquilinae. Genera: Aquila , Hieraaetus ; Spizaetus , Oroaetus , Spizastur ; Nisaetus ; Ictinaetus , Lophoaetus ; Polemaetus ; and Stephanoaetus . See comments under eagle species for changes to the composition of these genera. Most snake or serpent eagles, as
2964-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),
3042-479: The arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During the older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from
3120-436: The bird exhibits generalist feeding behavior, which means it does not hunt down specific types of snakes but rather feeds on them depending on their availability in the wild. Harpy eagles or "giant forest eagles" are large eagles that inhabit tropical forests. The group contains two to six species, depending on the author. Although these birds occupy similar niches and have traditionally been grouped, they are not all related:
3198-520: The bird is derived from Latin : aquila by way of French : aigle . The origin of aquila is unknown, but it is believed to possibly derive from aquilus (meaning dark-colored, swarthy, or blackish) as a reference to the plumage of eagles. Old English used the term earn , related to Scandinavia's ørn / örn . It is similar to other Indo-European terms for "bird" or "eagle", including Greek : ὄρνις ( ornís ), Russian : орёл ( orël ), and Welsh : eryr . In
Circaetus - Misplaced Pages Continue
3276-455: The coat of arms of Kotka , Finland, the eagle is depicted carrying an anchor and the caduceus on its feet. Heraldic eagles are most often found displayed , i.e. with their wings and legs extended. They can also occur close , i.e. with their wings folded, or rising , i.e. about to take flight. The heads, wings, and legs of eagles can also be found independently. Eagles symbolize strength, courage, and independence and are commonly found in
3354-796: The country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine ,
3432-441: The dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before
3510-622: The eagle Zeus bearing Ganymede aloft, from Classical times up to the present (see illustrations in the Ganymede (mythology) page.) Eagles appear metaphorically in many translations of the Old Testament . God is spoken of as carrying Israel on "eagles' wings" in Exodus 19:4, Isaiah 40:31 compares those who wait on the Lord to flying eagles, and Psalm 103 mentions renewing one's youth "as
3588-558: The eagle and often depicted eagles in their art. The golden eagle was sacred to the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli while the harpy eagle was sacred to Quetzalcoatl . Eagles are an exceptionally common symbol in heraldry, being considered the "King of Birds" in contrast to the lion , the "King of Beasts". Whereas the lion (e.g. England) usually represents authority, the eagle is the symbol of power. They are particularly popular in Germanic countries such as Austria, due to their association with
3666-462: The eagle was able to look directly at the sun, and that they forced their fledglings to do the same. Those that blinked would be cast from the nest. This belief persisted until the Medieval era . The eagle is the patron animal of the ancient Greek god Zeus . In particular, Zeus was said to have taken the form of an eagle in order to abduct Ganymede , and there are numerous artistic depictions of
3744-579: The eagle". In explaining this rejuvenation, Augustine of Hippo says in his commentary on the Psalms that eagles' beaks overgrow as they age and that they break them against rocks to restore them. The translation, however, is uncertain: the word in the Hebrew, נשר , can also be translated vulture , and is listed alongside specific kinds of vulture in Leviticus ' discussion of unclean animals . The eagle
3822-528: The earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of the Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of
3900-454: The earth. The United States eagle feather law stipulates that only individuals of certifiable Native American ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain eagle feathers for religious or spiritual reasons. In Canada, the poaching of eagle feathers for the booming U.S. market has sometimes resulted in the arrests of First Nations person for the crime. The Moche people of ancient Peru worshiped
3978-412: The extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English
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#17327795571944056-576: The figures listed are the median reported for each measurement in the guide Raptors of the World in which only measurements that could be personally verified by the authors were listed. The eagles are generally distributed in all types of habitats and nearly all parts of the world. The birds can be found in northern tundra to tropical rainforests and deserts. In North America, bald eagles and golden eagles are very common. Eagles are often informally divided into four groups. The snake eagles are placed in
4134-500: The heraldry of many nations across the world. Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Dagestan, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Montenegro, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Palestine, Panama, Russia, Romania, Serbia, South Sudan, Somaliland, the United States of America, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are the nations whose coats of arms feature an eagle. The eagle's continuing significance and worldwide appeal as
4212-406: The incoming light. Like most diurnal raptors, eagles have little ability to see ultraviolet light. The female of all known species of eagles is larger than the male. Eagles normally build their nests, called eyries , in tall trees or on high cliffs. Many species lay two eggs, but the older, larger chick frequently kills its younger sibling once it has hatched. The parents take no action to stop
4290-415: The killing. It is said that eagles fly above clouds but this is not true. Eagles fly during storms and glide from the wind's pressure. This saves the bird's energy. Due to the size and power of many eagle species, they are ranked at the top of the food chain as apex predators in the avian world. The type of prey varies by genus. The Haliaeetus and Icthyophaga eagles prefer to capture fish, though
4368-449: The language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to the modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows
4446-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write
4524-452: The many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is
4602-465: The morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks the infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of
4680-465: The name suggests, primarily prey on snakes. Despite filling the niche of a snake eagle, genetic studies suggest that the Madagascar serpent eagle ( Eutriorchis ) is not related to them. Over several decades, a great deal of research has been done on the Snake-eagle's diet, which is mainly made up of reptiles, especially snakes. When it comes to catching snakes, it is generally accepted that
4758-447: The preying eagle. Authors on birds David Allen Sibley , Pete Dunne , and Clay Sutton described the behavioral difference between hunting eagles and other birds of prey thus (in this case the bald and golden eagles as compared to other North American raptors): They have at least one singular characteristic. It has been observed that most birds of prey look back over their shoulders before striking prey (or shortly thereafter); predation
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#17327795571944836-643: The regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of
4914-494: The solitary eagles are related to the black hawks and the Philippine eagle to the snake eagles. Major new research into eagle taxonomy suggests that the important genera Aquila and Hieraaetus are not composed of nearest relatives, and it is likely that a reclassification of these genera will soon take place, with some species being moved to Lophaetus or Ictinaetus . Family Accipitridae The modern English term for
4992-468: The southern part of Finland , near the Gulf of Finland , is the town of Kotka , which literally means "eagle", while the town of L'Aquila in the central part of Italy literally means "the eagle". In Britain before 1678, eagle referred specifically to the golden eagle , with the other native species, the white-tailed eagle , being known as erne . The modern name "golden eagle" for aquila chrysaetos
5070-403: The species and genera, with some individual eagles having engaged in quite varied techniques based on their environment and prey at any given time. Most eagles grab prey without landing and take flight with it, so the prey can be carried to a perch and torn apart. The bald eagle is noted for having flown with the heaviest load verified to be carried by any flying bird, since one eagle flew with
5148-528: The species in the former often capture various animals, especially other water birds , and are powerful kleptoparasites of other birds. The snake and serpent eagles of the genera Circaetus , Terathopius , and Spilornis predominantly prey on the great diversity of snakes found in the tropics of Africa and Asia. The eagles of the genus Aquila are often the top birds of prey in open habitats, taking almost any medium-sized vertebrate they can catch. Where Aquila eagles are absent, other eagles, such as
5226-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of
5304-472: The subfamily Circaetinae . The fish eagles, booted eagles, and harpy eagles have traditionally been placed in the subfamily Buteoninae together with the buzzard-hawks (buteonine hawks) and harriers. Some authors may treat these groups as tribes of the Buteoninae; Lerner & Mindell proposed separating the eagle groups into their own subfamilies of Accipitridae . Sea eagles or fish eagles take fish as
5382-720: The use of pesticides have contributed to the species' rapid population drop. The booted eagle is a group of eagle that typically migrates across the Sahara Desert to Europe. It usually reaches Europe around the beginning of March and leaves by the end of September. It's interesting to note that these types of eagles usually mate with the same partner and return to the same areas years later. Female booted eagles usually lay 1-4 eggs, which promptly hatch after 37 to 40 days. Researchers estimate that there are between 3600 and 6900 pairs of booted eagles in Europe, which are mostly situated in
5460-456: The very large harpy eagle , have relatively short wingspans, a feature necessary for being able to maneuver in quick, short bursts through densely forested habitats. Eagles in the genus Aquila , found almost exclusively in open country, are noted for their ability to soar, and have relatively long wings for their size. These lists of the top five eagles are based on weight, length, and wingspan, respectively. Unless otherwise noted by reference,
5538-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or
5616-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe
5694-494: Was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and
5772-586: Was introduced by the naturalist John Ray . The village of Eagle in Lincolnshire , England , has nothing to do with the bird; its name is derived from the Old English words for "oak" and "wood" (compare Oakley ). In the ancient Sumerian mythology , the mythical king Etana was said to have been carried into heaven by an eagle. Classical writers such as Lucan and Pliny the Elder claimed that
5850-485: Was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in
5928-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect
6006-637: Was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to
6084-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage
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