The verb phemi ('I say') is one of Greek's oldest and most elemental speech verbs, functioning primarily as a narrative frame to introduce direct discourse. In the New Testament its third-person singular forms phesi and ephe dominate, serving as compact speech tags: 'he said.' It appears in rapid dialogic exchanges -- Jesus answering accusers (Matt 26:34, 61), Pilate interrogating Jesus (Matt 27:11, 23), Paul testifying before Festus and Agrippa (Acts 25:22; 26:1, 24-25). Unlike lego, which can carry nuances of reasoned discourse, phemi is a bare performative of utterance. Spanish dijo, French dire, and German sprechen/spricht all render it as simple speech introduction, confirming its single monosemous function.