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100-589: The name Metohija derives from the Greek word μετόχια ( metóchia ; singular μετόχιον , metóchion ), meaning "monastic estates" – a reference to the large number of villages and estates in the region that were owned by the Serbian Orthodox monasteries and Mount Athos during the Middle Ages . In Albanian the area is called Rrafshi i Dukagjinit and means "the plateau of Dukagjin", as

200-577: 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

300-468: A 2.5 cm (1 in) petiole . The fragrant flowers are white to pale pink, 3–5 cm (1–2 in) diameter with five petals, produced singly or in pairs and appearing before the leaves in early spring. Almond trees thrive in Mediterranean climates with warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The optimal temperature for their growth is between 15 and 30 °C (59 and 86 °F) and

400-577: 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,

500-547: A common addition to breakfast muesli or oatmeal. A wide range of classic sweets feature almonds as a central ingredient. Marzipan was developed in the Middle Ages. Since the 19th century almonds have been used to make bread, almond butter , cakes and puddings, candied confections, almond cream-filled pastries, nougat , cookies ( macaroons , biscotti and qurabiya ), and cakes ( financiers , Esterházy torte ), and other sweets and desserts. The young, developing fruit of

600-676: A different crop such as pistachio that needs less water. Sustainability strategies implemented by the Almond Board of California and almond farmers include: In 2022, world production of almonds was 3.6 million tonnes , led by the United States (table). Secondary producers were Australia and Spain. In the United States, production is concentrated in California where 400,000 ha (1,000,000 acres) and six different almond varieties were under cultivation in 2017, with

700-508: 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

800-652: A flavour and yield. Self-pollinating almond varieties exist, but they lack some commercial characters. However, through natural hybridisation between different almond varieties, a new variety that was self-pollinating with a high yield of commercial quality nuts was produced. Almond trees can be attacked by an array of damaging microbes, fungal pathogens, plant viruses, and bacteria. Pavement ants ( Tetramorium caespitum ), southern fire ants ( Solenopsis xyloni ), and thief ants ( Solenopsis molesta ) are seed predators . Bryobia rubrioculus mites are most known for their damage to this crop. Almond production in California

900-590: 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

1000-400: 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

1100-459: 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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1200-547: A moderate Mediterranean climate with cool winter weather. It is rarely found wild in its original setting. Almonds were one of the earliest domesticated fruit trees , due to the ability to produce quality offspring entirely from seed, without using suckers and cuttings. Evidence of domesticated almonds in the Early Bronze Age has been found in the archeological sites of the Middle East, and subsequently across

1300-406: A single gene, the bitter flavour furthermore being recessive , both aspects making this trait easier to domesticate. The fruits from Prunus dulcis var. amara are always bitter, as are the kernels from other species of genus Prunus , such as apricot, peach and cherry (although to a lesser extent). The bitter almond is slightly broader and shorter than the sweet almond and contains about 50% of

1400-583: A small minority, and was mainly located in the Nahiya of Peja and with a very small pocket in the Nahiya of Prizren . Metohija was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1455 and incorporated into the Sanjak of Prizren (southern part of Metohija) and Sanjak of Peć (northern part of Metohija). In 1878, after several administrative reforms, the region was included into Ottoman Vilayet of Kosovo . The area

1500-409: 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

1600-462: A tree with different genetic characters to produce seeds. Almond orchards therefore must grow mixtures of almond varieties. In addition, the pollen is transferred from flower to flower by insects; therefore commercial growers must ensure there are enough insects to perform this task. The large scale of almond production in the U.S. creates a significant problem of providing enough pollinating insects. Additional pollinating insects are therefore brought to

1700-463: A yield of 2.25 billion pounds (1.02 billion kilograms) of shelled almonds. California production is marked by a period of intense pollination during late winter by rented commercial bees transported by truck across the U.S. to almond groves, requiring more than half of the total U.S. commercial honeybee population. The value of total U.S. exports of shelled almonds in 2016 was $ 3.2 billion. All commercially grown almonds sold as food in

1800-517: Is a nutritionally dense food, providing a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value , DV) of the B vitamins riboflavin and niacin , vitamin E , and the essential minerals calcium , copper, iron, magnesium , manganese , phosphorus , and zinc . Almonds are a moderate source (10–19% DV) of the B vitamins thiamine , vitamin B 6 , and folate , choline, and the essential mineral potassium . They also contain substantial dietary fibre ,

1900-409: Is a species of tree from the genus Prunus . Along with the peach , it is classified in the subgenus Amygdalus , distinguished from the other subgenera by corrugations on the shell ( endocarp ) surrounding the seed. The fruit of the almond is a drupe , consisting of an outer hull and a hard shell with the seed, which is not a true nut . Shelling almonds refers to removing the shell to reveal

2000-595: Is classified as Group 2B ("possibly carcinogenic to humans"). The USDA-approved marketing order was challenged in court by organic farmers organised by the Cornucopia Institute , a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group which filed a lawsuit in September 2008. According to the institute, this almond marketing order has imposed significant financial burdens on small-scale and organic growers and damaged domestic almond markets. A federal judge dismissed

2100-716: Is common with peach allergens ( lipid transfer proteins ) and tree nut allergens . Symptoms range from local signs and symptoms (e.g., oral allergy syndrome , contact urticaria ) to systemic signs and symptoms including anaphylaxis (e.g., urticaria , angioedema , gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms). Almonds are susceptible to aflatoxin -producing moulds. Aflatoxins are potent carcinogenic chemicals produced by moulds such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus . The mould contamination may occur from soil, previously infested almonds, and almond pests such as navel-orange worm. High levels of mould growth typically appear as grey to black filament-like growth. It

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2200-709: Is concentrated mainly in the Central Valley , where the mild climate, rich soil, abundant sunshine and water supply make for ideal growing conditions. Due to the persistent droughts in California in the early 21st century, it became more difficult to raise almonds in a sustainable manner. The issue is complex because of the high amount of water needed to produce almonds: a single almond requires roughly 1.1 US gallons (0.92 imperial gallons; 4.2 litres) of water to grow properly. Regulations related to water supplies are changing so some growers have destroyed their current almond orchards to replace with either younger trees or

2300-529: Is further divided into four parts: Prizrenski Podgor , Llapusha , Reka and Rugova . It encompasses three of the seven districts of Kosovo : Based on archaeology, the region of Kosovo and Metohija and the Morava Valley were interconnected in the Neolithic ( Starčevo and Vinča ) and Eneolithic. The Triballi of Morava entered Kosovo in two waves in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, then took part in

2400-414: Is in turn borrowed from Ancient Greek amygdálē ( ἀμυγδάλη ) (cf. amygdala , an almond-shaped portion of the brain). Late Old English had amygdales 'almonds'. The adjective amygdaloid (literally 'like an almond, almond-like') is used to describe objects which are roughly almond-shaped, particularly a shape which is part way between a triangle and an ellipse . For example, the amygdala of

2500-413: Is not a nut but a drupe . The outer covering, consisting of an outer exocarp , or skin, and mesocarp , or flesh, fleshy in other members of Prunus such as the plum and cherry , is instead a thick, leathery, grey-green coat (with a downy exterior), called the hull. Inside the hull is a woody endocarp which forms a reticulated, hard shell (like the outside of a peach pit) called the pyrena . Inside

2600-867: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Almond The almond ( Prunus amygdalus , syn. Prunus dulcis )

2700-763: 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,

2800-632: 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

2900-452: Is unsafe to eat mould-infected tree nuts. Some countries have strict limits on allowable levels of aflatoxin contamination of almonds and require adequate testing before the nuts can be marketed to their citizens. The European Union, for example, introduced a requirement since 2007 that all almond shipments to the EU be tested for aflatoxin. If aflatoxin does not meet the strict safety regulations,

3000-589: The Balearic Islands . Production in 2016 declined 2% nationally compared to 2015 production data. The almond cultivar 'Marcona' is recognisably different from other almonds and is marketed by name. The kernel is short, round, relatively sweet, and delicate in texture. Its origin is unknown and has been grown in Spain for a long time; the tree is very productive, and the shell of the nut is hard. Bitter almonds contain 42 times higher amounts of cyanide than

3100-788: The Branković family . The region was also controlled by the Principality of Dukagjini . It was part of the Serbian Despotate until 1455, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire . Ottoman cadastral records, particularly the Ottoman defters of the 15th-16th centuries, indicate that the Dukagjin Plains were inhabited by a majority of Albanian Christians during this period. This Albanian Christian majority of

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3200-562: 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

3300-478: The Constitution of Republic of Kosovo , which came into effect on 15 June 2008. Serbia still considers Metohija part of its territory. 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

3400-633: The Early Bronze Age (3000–2000 BC), such as the archaeological sites of Numeira (Jordan), or possibly earlier. Another well-known archaeological example of the almond is the fruit found in Tutankhamun 's tomb in Egypt (c. 1325 BC), probably imported from the Levant. An article on almond tree cultivation in Spain is brought down in Ibn al-'Awwam 's 12th-century agricultural work, Book on Agriculture . Of

3500-657: 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

3600-558: The Germans took direct control over the region, supported by the local Albanian collaborationists ( Balli Kombëtar ). After numerous rebellions of Serb Chetniks and Yugoslav Partisans , Metohija was captured by Serb forces in 1944. In 1946, it became part of Serbia's Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija , within the transitional Democratic Federal Yugoslavia . On 17 February 2008, representatives of Kosovo Albanians , declared Kosovo's independence and subsequently adopted

3700-516: 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

3800-574: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . The Kingdom was reformed into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. The Kingdom suffered an Axis invasion during World War II in 1941, and the region of Metohija was incorporated into Italian-controlled Albania , with the Italians employing the " Vulnetari ", an Albanian volunteer militia, to control the villages. After Italy's treaty with the Allies in 1943,

3900-601: The Levant . Other estimates specified Iran and Anatolia (present day Turkey ) as origin locations of the almond, with botanical evidence for Iran as a possible origin centre. The wild form of domesticated almond also grew in parts of the Levant. Almond cultivation was spread by humans centuries ago along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea into northern Africa and southern Europe, and more recently to other world regions, notably California . Selection of

4000-780: 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

4100-468: 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

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4200-470: The monounsaturated fat , oleic acid , and the polyunsaturated fat , linoleic acid. Typical of nuts and seeds, almonds are a source of phytosterols such as beta-sitosterol , stigmasterol , campesterol , sitostanol , and campestanol . Almonds are included as a good source of protein among recommended healthy foods by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A 2016 review of clinical research indicated that regular consumption of almonds may reduce

4300-417: 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,

4400-593: The 1986 Draft Memorandum of SANU ). In September 1990, the new Constitution of the Republic of Serbia was adopted, changing the official name of the province back to the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija . This time, the change was not welcomed by ethnic Albanians, who protested against the official use of the term "Metohija". In 2008, after the Kosovo declaration of independence , Serbia included

4500-566: 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

4600-597: The Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. The region was conquered by Bulgaria in the early 10th century, after which Byzantine rule was restored, briefly ca. 970–975, and again after 1018. In terms of ecclesiastical administration, the region of Metohija belonged to the Eparchy of Prizren , created in 1019. During the 11th and the 12th century, the region was contested between the Grand Principality of Serbia and

4700-685: The Byzantine Empire. Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja was recognized as independent in 1190, keeping northern parts of the Metohija (region of Hvosno ), while southern parts were incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbia by the beginning of the 13th century. After the Fall of the Serbian Empire in 1371, the region of Metohija was controlled by the Balšić family of Zeta, and since 1378 by

4800-665: The European countries that the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh reported as cultivating almonds, Germany is the northernmost, though the domesticated form can be found as far north as Iceland. Almond trees are small to medium-sized but commercial cultivars can be grafted onto a different root-stock to produce smaller trees. Varieties include: Breeding programmes have found the high shell-seal trait . The most widely planted varieties of almond are self-incompatible ; hence these trees require pollen from

4900-544: 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

5000-549: 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

5100-593: The Indo-European language family. It 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

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5200-430: The Mediterranean region and similar arid climates with cool winters. California produces about 80% of the world's almond supply. Due to high acreage and water demand for almond cultivation, and need for pesticides , California almond production may be unsustainable, especially during the persistent drought and heat from climate change in the 21st century. Droughts in California have caused some producers to leave

5300-791: The U.S. are sweet cultivars. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported in 2010 that some fractions of imported sweet almonds were contaminated with bitter almonds, which contain cyanide. Australia is the largest almond production region in the Southern Hemisphere . Most of the almond orchards are located along the Murray River corridor in New South Wales , Victoria, and South Australia . Spain has diverse commercial cultivars of almonds grown in Catalonia , Valencia , Murcia , Andalusia, and Aragón regions, and

5400-404: 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),

5500-507: The almond tree can be eaten whole (green almonds) when they are still green and fleshy on the outside and the inner shell has not yet hardened. The fruit is somewhat sour, but is a popular snack in parts of the Middle East, eaten dipped in salt to balance the sour taste. Also in the Middle East they are often eaten with dates. They are available only from mid-April to mid-June in the Northern Hemisphere; pickling or brining extends

5600-479: 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

5700-694: The brain uses a direct borrowing of the Greek term amygdalē . The precise origin of the almond is controversial due to estimates for its emergence across wide geographic regions. Sources indicate that its origins were in Central Asia between Iran , Turkmenistan , Tajikistan , Kurdistan , Afghanistan , and Iraq , or in an eastern Asian subregion between Mongolia and Uzbekistan . In other assessments, both botanical and archaeological evidence indicates that almonds originated and were first cultivated in West Asia , particularly in countries of

5800-796: 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 ,

5900-441: 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

6000-528: 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

6100-539: The entire consignment may be reprocessed to eliminate the aflatoxin or it must be destroyed. Breeding programs have found the high shell-seal trait. High shell-seal provides resistance against these Aspergillus species and so against the development of their toxins. After tracing cases of salmonellosis to almonds, the USDA approved a proposal by the Almond Board of California to pasteurise almonds sold to

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6200-412: 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

6300-463: The fixed oil that occurs in sweet almonds. It also contains the enzyme emulsin which, in the presence of water, acts on the two soluble glucosides amygdalin and prunasin yielding glucose , cyanide and the essential oil of bitter almonds, which is nearly pure benzaldehyde , the chemical causing the bitter flavour. Bitter almonds may yield 4–9 milligrams of hydrogen cyanide per almond and contain 42 times higher amounts of cyanide than

6400-458: The fruit's shelf life. Marzipan, a smooth, sweetened almond paste , is used in a number of elegant cakes and desserts. Princess cake is covered by marzipan (similar to fondant ), as is Battenberg cake . In Sicily , sponge cake is covered with marzipan to make cassatella di sant'Agata and cassata siciliana , and marzipan is dyed and crafted into realistic fruit shapes to make frutta martorana . The Andalusian Christmas pastry pan de Cádiz

6500-419: The garbage heaps, and later intentionally in their orchards". Almonds were one of the earliest domesticated fruit trees , due to "the ability of the grower to raise attractive almonds from seed. Thus, in spite of the fact that this plant does not lend itself to propagation from suckers or from cuttings, it could have been domesticated even before the introduction of grafting ". Domesticated almonds appear in

6600-445: The genesis of the Dardani . Necropolises near Zhur suggest that the southwestern-most part of Metohija at the end of 6th century BC was subject to Illyrian influx. After the Roman conquests, the Metohija region was divided into Dardania and Praevalitana . Coinciding with the decline of the Roman Empire, many "barbarian" tribes passed through the Balkans, most of whom did not leave any lasting state. The Slavs, however, overwhelmed

6700-430: The grower directly to the consumer in small quantities. The treatment also is not required for raw almonds sold for export outside of North America. The Almond Board of California states: "PPO residue dissipates after treatment". The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reported: "Propylene oxide has been detected in fumigated food products; consumption of contaminated food is another possible route of exposure". PPO

6800-400: The industry, leading to lower supply and increased prices. The almond is a deciduous tree growing to 3–4.5 metres (10–15 feet) in height, with a trunk of up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) in diameter. The young twigs are green at first, becoming purplish where exposed to sunlight, then grey in their second year. The leaves are 8–13 cm (3–5 in) long, with a serrated margin and

6900-449: 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

7000-414: 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

7100-519: The lawsuit in early 2009 on procedural grounds. In August 2010, a federal appeals court ruled that the farmers have a right to appeal the USDA regulation. In March 2013, the court vacated the suit on the basis that the objections should have been raised in 2007 when the regulation was first proposed. Almonds are 4% water, 22% carbohydrates , 21% protein , and 50% fat. In a 100-gram ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 -ounce) reference amount, almonds supply 2,420 kilojoules (579 kilocalories) of food energy . The almond

7200-452: 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

7300-465: 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

7400-484: The mountain ranges Mokra Gora in the north and northwest, the Accursed Mountains in the west, Pashtrik in the southwest, the Šar Mountains Albanian : Malet e Sharrit ) in the south and southeast, and Drenica in the east and northeast, which distinguishes it from the rest of Kosovo in the east and northeast. The geographic division between Metohija and the rest of Kosovo causes differences between

7500-670: The name 'Metohija' does not appear as a geographic notion in the Medieval and Ottoman period which would have the meaning of the territory of Peja, Gjakova and Prizren. The denomination Metohija only appears as an ecclesiastic property. The name Metohija came first to be used as a geographic notion by Serbian scholars in the 19th-20th century. A similar name is found in Northern Albania, the Dukagjin highlands . The term "Kosovo and Metohija" ( Serbian Cyrillic : Косово и Метохија )

7600-466: The public. After publishing the rule in March 2007, the almond pasteurisation program became mandatory for California companies effective 1 September 2007. Raw, untreated California almonds have not been available in the U.S. since then. California almonds labeled "raw" must be steam-pasteurised or chemically treated with propylene oxide (PPO). This does not apply to imported almonds or almonds sold from

7700-475: The region mainly concerned itself with agriculture and consisted of both Catholic and Orthodox Albanians. Albanian anthroponomy and onomastics prevailed over Slavic ones, and there are many cases of mixed Slav-Albanian anthroponomy; that is to say, Albanians with elements of Slavic anthroponomy as a result of their conversion to the Orthodox faith. The Slavic population of the region during these times consisted of

7800-643: 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

7900-435: The risk of heart disease by lowering blood levels of LDL cholesterol . While the almond is often eaten on its own, raw or toasted, it is also a component of various dishes. Almonds are available in many forms, such as whole, slivered, and ground into flour. Almond pieces around 2–3 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 16 – 1 ⁄ 8  in) in size, called "nibs", are used for special purposes such as decoration. Almonds are

8000-493: The seed. Almonds are sold shelled or unshelled. Blanched almonds are shelled almonds that have been treated with hot water to soften the seedcoat , which is then removed to reveal the white embryo . Once almonds are cleaned and processed, they can be stored for around a year if kept refrigerated; at higher temperatures they will become rancid more quickly. Almonds are used in many cuisines, often featuring prominently in desserts, such as marzipan . The almond tree prospers in

8100-582: The shell is the edible seed, commonly called a nut. Generally, one seed is present, but occasionally two occur. After the fruit matures, the hull splits and separates from the shell, and an abscission layer forms between the stem and the fruit so that the fruit can fall from the tree. During harvest, mechanised tree shakers are used to expedite fruits falling to the ground for collection. The seeds of Prunus dulcis var. dulcis are predominantly sweet but some individual trees produce seeds that are somewhat more bitter. The genetic basis for bitterness involves

8200-437: 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

8300-459: The sweet type from the many bitter types in the wild marked the beginning of almond domestication. The wild ancestor of the almond used to breed the domesticated species is unknown. The species Prunus fenzliana may be the most likely wild ancestor of the almond, in part because it is native to Armenia and western Azerbaijan , where it was apparently domesticated. Wild almond species were grown by early farmers, "at first unintentionally in

8400-519: The term "Metohija" into the official name of the newly formed Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija , which was transformed in 2012 into the Office for Kosovo and Metohija . Metohija is 23 km (14 mi) wide at its broadest point and about 60 km (37 mi) long, at an average altitude of 450 m (1,476 ft) above sea level . Its principal river is the White Drin . It is bordered by

8500-720: The toponym (in Albanian) took the name of the Dukagjini family who ruled a large part of Dukagjini during the 14th-15th centuries. According to Jahja Drançolli, a professor at the University of Pristina , the oldest name for the region is Dukagjin Plain ( Albanian : Rrafshi i Dukagjinit ) or simply Dukagjin and the region was under the Sanjak of Dukagjin in the 15th–16th century with its capital in Peja . Drançolli also state that

8600-610: The trace levels found in sweet almonds. Extract of bitter almond was once used medicinally but even in small doses, effects are severe or lethal, especially in children; the cyanide must be removed before consumption. The acute oral lethal dose of cyanide for adult humans is reported to be 0.5–3.5 mg/kg (0.2–1.6 mg/lb) of body weight (approximately 50 bitter almonds), so that for children consuming 5–10 bitter almonds may be fatal. Symptoms of eating such almonds include vertigo and other typical cyanide poisoning effects. Almonds may cause allergy or intolerance . Cross-reactivity

8700-560: The trace levels found in sweet almonds. The origin of cyanide content in bitter almonds is via the enzymatic hydrolysis of amygdalin. P450 monooxygenases are involved in the amygdalin biosynthetic pathway. A point mutation in a bHLH transcription factor prevents transcription of the two cytochrome P450 genes, resulting in the sweet kernel trait. The word almond is a loanword from Old French almande or alemande , descended from Late Latin amandula , amindula , modified from Classical Latin amygdala , which

8800-409: The tree buds have a chilling requirement of 200 to 700 hours below 7.2 °C (45.0 °F) to break dormancy. Almonds begin bearing an economic crop in the third year after planting. Trees reach full bearing five to six years after planting. The fruit matures in the autumn, 7–8 months after flowering. The almond fruit is 3.5–6 cm ( 1 + 3 ⁄ 8 – 2 + 3 ⁄ 8  in) long. It

8900-451: The trees. The pollination of California's almonds is the largest annual managed pollination event in the world, with over 1 million hives (nearly half of all beehives in the US) being brought to the almond orchards each February. Much of the supply of bees is managed by pollination brokers, who contract with migratory beekeepers from at least 49 states for the event. This business

9000-528: The two areas' flora and fauna . Metohija has the characteristic influences of the Mediterranean . Metohija consists of fertile arable land with many small rivers which provide water for irrigation and, in combination with the Mediterranean climate, give excellent fields except for cereals . This area is well known for its high-quality vineyards , fruit orchards, and for the growing of chestnut and almond trees. The geographical region of Metohija

9100-574: 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

9200-557: 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

9300-494: 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

9400-608: Was heavily affected by colony collapse disorder at the turn of the 21st century, causing a nationwide shortage of honey bees and increasing the price of insect pollination . To partially protect almond growers from these costs, researchers at the Agricultural Research Service , part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), developed self-pollinating almond trees that combine this character with quality characters such as

9500-477: Was in official use for the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija (1945–1963), and also for the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (1963–1968). The term "Metohija" was dropped from the official name of the province in 1968, and thus the term " Kosovo " became the official name of the province as a whole . The change was not welcomed by Serbs, who continued to use the old name (for example in

9600-485: 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

9700-650: Was taken by the Kingdom of Montenegro in the 1912 First Balkan War except for the Prizren area, conquered by Kingdom of Serbia. During the First World War , Montenegro was conquered by the Austro-Hungarian forces in 1915. The Central Powers were pushed out of Metohija by the Serbian Army in 1918. Montenegro subsequently joined the Kingdom of Serbia , which was followed by the formation of

9800-580: 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

9900-637: 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

10000-621: 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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