Dumb Bell is certainly a strange word for a piece of gym equipment, it may be dumb, but it's certainly no bell.
So where then did the word come from?
Well it seems that in late Stuart times in England villagers got fed up with the noise of bell ringers practicing their campanology (bell ringing) and sought a way to make it less disruptive to their lives.
The solution was to practice ringing the changes with specially shaped weights to emulate pulling on ropes and ringing bells.
They were especially useful for developing technique, and especially strength and did not make a noise (hence dumb).
Later, when strongmen started to make their own equipment, they kept the name, even though the shape and form changed.
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