The podictionary word for today is dumb . In conversation today we usually understand the word dumb to mean stupid, but those of us who think of ourselves as smart know that the “proper” meaning of dumb is really “mute.” Now it is certainly true that when the word came into English a thousand years ago it was used to mean devoid of speech, and that English speakers really didn't start to use the word to mean stupid until the 1500s. This is likely one of those words that came across the English Channel with the Saxons in around 450 AD because it existed with the same meaning in Old Saxon and Gothic as well as Old Norse. But here's the thing. In Old High German it did also mean stupid, and deaf to boot.
So dumb meaning “dopey” has a 500 year pedigree in English and at least a 1500 year pedigree in one of it's ancestor languages—so maybe it has two “proper” meanings. A dumbbell is what you use to work out with in a weight room. The reason it's called that is because originally it was meant to mimic the weight of a real hand bell. As early as 1711 it is mentioned as a form of exercise which the participant refers to as “ringing.” These dumbbells must have looked like the ones we are familiar with, but possibly a century earlier there were dumbbells built with ropes for pupils to practice for church bell ringing.
