Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• φᾱμί ‎(phāmí) Doric

Verb

φημί • ‎(phēmí)

1. I speak, say.
   1. I think
   2. (of an author) I write
   3. (φησί or ἔφη used when quoting, sometimes after another verb of saying)
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Oeconomicus 17.10

        καὶ ὁ Ἰσχόμαχος γελάσας εἶπεν: ἀλλὰ παίζεις μὲν σύγε, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες.

        And Ischomachus said, laughing, "But you're joking, Socrates," he said.

2. I say yes, agree, affirm, assert
   1. (with οὐ) I say no, deny, refuse
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.19.3

        τοῖσι δὲ ἡ Πυθίη ἀπικομένοισι ἐς Δελφοὺς οὐκ ἔφη χρήσειν πρὶν ἢ τὸν νηὸν τῆς Ἀθηναίης ἀνορθώσωσι, τὸν ἐνέπρησαν χώρης τῆς Μιλησίης ἐν Ἀσσησῷ.

        But when the messengers came to Delphi, the Pythian priestess would not answer them before they restored the temple of Athena at Assesos in the Milesian territory, which they had burnt.

   2. (φημί or οὕτως φημί as interjection) yes, I would say so
      • 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 500.e
      • 386 BCE – 367 BCE, Plato, Meno 83.c

Usage notes

All finite forms of the present tense except for φῄς ‎(phḗis) are enclitic, as shown by the acute accent in ὥς φησι ‎(hṓs phēsi) "so he says".

Inflection

• Third-person singular perfect passive imperative: πεφάσθω ‎(pephásthō)

Derived terms

Related terms

• φάτις ‎(phátis, “rumour, news, speech”)
• φωνή ‎(phōnḗ, “voice”)

References

• φημί in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• φημί in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• φημί in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• «φημί» in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• «φημί» in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “G5346”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• prophet in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920), “Part II: Inflection”, in A Greek grammar for colleges, Cambridge: American Book Company, § 783: inflected forms