Luke 1:62

ἐνένευον (here only in N. T.): they made signs, which seems to imply that Zechariah is supposed to be deaf as well as dumb. Various suggestions have been made to evade this conclusion; e.g., that men are very apt to treat a dumb person as if he were also deaf (Bengel, De Wette, Godet); that they communicated by signs instead of by speech to spare the feelings of Elizabeth, whose judgment was being appealed from (Meyer); that a sign was all that was needed, Zechariah having heard all that was said (Bleek, J. Weiss, Hahn). τὸ before the clause following τί ἂν θέλοι, viewed as a substantive, is very appropriate in a case where the question was not spoken but signalled. ἂν θέλοι : the optative with ἂν, implies diverse possibilities; found in Lk.'s writings only in N. T.