I first saw “epoch” in Chrono Trigger and I thought it was pronounced like “E-Pock.” Years later, I found out it’s the same as “epic.” So I had probably actually heard it spoken before ever reading it, but thought they were saying “epic” and not “epoch” because, in the context, both words would absolutely work.
But come on! Listen back to back! I’m not linguisticy enough to know exactly but that ə is certainly not an i… just wouldn’t recognize the difference in many contexts I’m thinking
I first saw “epoch” in Chrono Trigger and I thought it was pronounced like “E-Pock.” Years later, I found out it’s the same as “epic.” So I had probably actually heard it spoken before ever reading it, but thought they were saying “epic” and not “epoch” because, in the context, both words would absolutely work.
Sounds like you and the word “epoch” have a lot of catching up to do.
…
goddamnit
TIL
Nah, this is wrong. In british english, it’s pronounced EE-pock. American it’s generally pronounced eh-pock. In no way is it ever pronounced ‘epic’.
whew thank fuck, I didn’t catch the dropdown for american vs British when searched it
Whohhh was gonna say top level comment’s wrong but…
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epoch
First pronunciation’s super “epic”, second’s what we know
…hmmm OK, this is indeed a little more epic:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epic
But come on! Listen back to back! I’m not linguisticy enough to know exactly but that ə is certainly not an i… just wouldn’t recognize the difference in many contexts I’m thinking
That website’s pronunciation of ə is super weird. It should be more of an ‘uh’ sound.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel
Anyway, the pronunciation using ə isn’t common even in the US, not sure what merriem webster is smoking, here’s cambridge: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/epoch
That’s definitely an American bastardisation. It’s a common word in all European languages with origins from Greek.
To make things more confusing, all these other languages also have the syllables mixed up, but at least consistently so.
Epoch is is from Greek Epi meaning a period of time. It’s pronounced with O and rhymes with fuck.
Epic is from Greek Epos meaning story or song. It’s pronounced with I and rhymes with dick.