> Kevin is a founding member and secrectary of Hephaistos
 > Foundation. BTW it is
 > pronounced with the H silent, a long E, phase with a long
 > A, tos like toes.
 > Phonetically it would be Ephasetoes I'd guess.
 
My Webster's gives it as [hi fes t(schwa)s] with i as in _is_ and e as in 
_ten_; schwa is the vowel spelled with an a at the end of the word _sofa_.  
In English, we stick the accent on the second syllable.
In Greek, the initial H was certainly sounded, since the name has a rough 
breathing mark at the beginning.  If you want to pronounce it in ancient 
Greek style, you'd be better off saying hay (as in 'hay is for horses') phice 
(rhymes with _ice_) toss (as in throw a ball).  The accent is on the first 
syllable.
On the other hand, if you want people to understand what the heck you are 
saying, it's usually better to stick to the standard English pronunciation.
In general, it is better to avoid saying that so and so is pronounced like 
the English long vowel [fill in the blank] -- ever since the Great Vowel 
Shift, the English long vowels have moved far away from their orthography.  
Also, note that English plurals, while spelled with a letter _s_, are not 
spoken with the sound _s_, but with a  voiced _z_ sound.  (Contrast the 
snake's hiss with the bees' buzz.)
 
Sorry to be nitpicky, but I can't see the point of guessing when people have 
labored for years to put these things down in reference books where they can 
be looked up.  [People who are persnickety about the exact quality and 
location of the real Greek vowels are free to consult Allen's _Vox Graeca_, 
Stanford's _The Sound of Greek_ and all the papers following these two works 
wherein the dicussion has been carried out.]
 
End of rant -- we now return you to your regularly scheduled echo topic.
 
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