Dumbbell
Why are handheld weights called so?
Exercise weights have been used since the times of the Greeks. They were used by sportsmen as well as athletes to train. Also, they had the Olympics in which the weights were used in various competitions. They used iron discs or balls as weights in those days.
In the 1700s Englishmen who wished to show off their strength would ring the Church bells. Made out of iron, the bells were large and required much upper body strength to be moved.
Ringing the bell repeatedly throughout the day for exercise would not be viable. When Church bells were changed because of their age, the old ones used to serve as weights. Using the bells as they were would be noisy. They removed the clappers to eliminate the noise, rendering the bells dumb. Hence the name Dumbbell.
Consequently, the word bell began to be used for almost all exercise weights.
Hanging the bells on a bar gave us the barbells and the kettlebells because they looked like a teapot without a spout.