A dumbbell is a silent bell devised to strengthen the men who rang very large church bells.
At Canterbury in the Middle Ages, it took twenty-four men to ring one bell.
To build up strength, and develop their skills, novices used a silent or “dumb” bell, which was a heavy weight suspended by a rope from a pulley on a scaffold.
People wanting to build up their physiques soon copied with dumbbells of their own.
