Possibly the most famous piece of exercise equipment ever is the dumbbell. It’s the iconic thing used in illustrations and cartoons; two heavy weights on the ends of a bar. Just a glimpse of it evokes weightlifting, exercise, gyms, and the like. Except…it’s nothing at all like a bell, so what’s with the name?
The answer is that although a “dumb-bell” has always been a piece of exercise equipment, it used to be a completely different piece of exercise equipment. It seems to have been invented in the early 1700s, according to early references like this from 1711: “I exercise my self an Hour every Morning upon a dumb Bell, that is placed in a Corner of my Room.”
The “dumb” part is easy to figure out; the thing didn’t make any noise. “Dumb” was added to the name because the exercise itself was based on ringing a bell, like the big bell you’d find in a tower. It was large, heavy, and you had to yank on a rope to ring it. The original “dumb-bell” was described in 1746: “This contrivance, being framed together, and placed in a garret, or upper room, affords the exercise called RINGING, by means of a rope, which comes thro’ the floor or floors down to a study or chamber.”
The exercise routine didn’t involve a bar with weights on it; it was a rope, hanging through the ceiling, that you’d pull on. In fact, if you visualize the activities, the exercise you’d do with an original dumbbell was nearly the opposite of what you do with a modern dumbbell.
By 1894, “dumb-bell” described what we’d recognize today: “A stone like a dumb-bell, large at both ends and narrow in the middle.” There doesn’t seem to be any trace of how a name that made sense for one sort of workout machine came to be applied to a completely different one. Some people have evidently scratched their head over it though, because there’s another term, “barbell” that seems like it tries to insert a modicum of sense into the equation; at least it mentions the bar.
Except for one thing: in 1895, bar-bells and dumb-bells were not the same thing! “The gymnasium..is well equipped with clubs, wands, bar bells, and dumb bells.” Nowadays the terms are mostly interchangeable, although technically speaking, “The Barbell is the longer version of the Dumbbell which is used for free weight training and competitive sports.” And similarly, “Dumbbells are the equivalent of one-handed barbells, with a gripping surface approximately 16 centimetres (6.3 in) and a total length that rarely exceeds 50 centimetres (20 in).”
As for the thing that really was similar to ringing a bell, but silent, it seems to have been almost completely forgotten. No reason not to recycle a perfectly good name, though, I guess. After you finish one round of naming, just go for a second rep.
