Pronunciation of “hypokeimenon”

Question

How should hypokeimenon be pronounced?

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P.S. For the curious, a sci-fi book I'm reading used several words I did not know. When I looked them up, I also ran across hypokeimenon and wondered about it.

• supernal
• dolose
• haecceity
• morological
• accipitrine
• limbus
• Odobenus rosmarus

These last six were within two pages. I only knew anything about one of them.

Answer 1

The word is Greek in origin, used by Aristotle to describe "something which can be predicated by other things, but cannot be a predicate of others". To be certain of the correct pronunciation, we would have to consult someone who speaks native ancient Greek, which may be difficult.

The best reference that I could find was this video of a Greek speaker discussing metaphysics.

The gentleman at this link (a male from Netherlands) pronounces it something like HAY-PO-KAAAY-MEN-ON, drawing out the AA sound between hypok and menon.

As a native English speaker, my first instinct is to pronounce it HIGH-PO-KAY-MEN-ON. I would treat the hypo prefix as identical in sound to its use in "hypodermic" or "hypoallergenic". I am less certain about the kei portion, but KAY sounds more correct than KEE. To my eye, the final menon could only be pronounced MEN-ON. Again, this is only my interpretation.

Answer 2

In case anyone bumps into this question:

• hypokeimenon comes from the greek υ-πο-κεί-με-νο, IPA: i.po.ˈci.me.no. In the context of syntax, υποκείμενο means subject.

• You can listen to a native Greek pronunciation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LjmthJ7H5g#t=1m07s

• Google translate's vocalization comes close but puts an emphasis on the second syllable ('πο', υ-πο-κεί-με-νο) which isn't true, as the emphasis should be put on the accent, κει. http://translate.google.com/#el|en|%CF%85%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BA%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%BF