dumbbell

Origin

From dumb (“silent”) + bell (“a resonating instrument”). The term "dumbbell" originated in 16th-century England to describe silent exercise apparatus used in practicing the motions of ringing church bells noiselessly. To aid them in the practice of their physically demanding vocation, bellringers originally used weighted ropes on fixed pulleys to mimic the motion of ringing a church bell; since such apparatus made no noise while imitating the motion of ringing a swinging bell via a fixed pulley, they were called "dumb bells". Later, the rope-and-pulley weights evolved into simple hand-held weights used by ringers for strengthening the shoulder and back muscles heavily used in tower bellringing, and the term "'dumb bell'" evolved into the compound word "'dumbbell'".