Diabolo

The diabolo (/diːˈæbəloʊ/ dee-AB-ə-loh; commonly misspelled diablo) is a juggling or circus prop consisting of an axle (British English: bobbin) and two cups (hourglass/egg timer shaped) or discs derived from the Chinese yo-yo. This object is spun using a string attached to two hand sticks ('batons' or 'wands'). A large variety of tricks are possible with the diabolo, including tosses, and various types of interaction with the sticks, string, and various parts of the user's body. Multiple diabolos can be spun on a single string. This noisy rattle consists of two hollow cylinders of metal, wood, or bamboo, joined together in the middle by a cross-piece. Each of the cylinders is pierced by a hole in opposite directions. The rope loops around the crossbeam. By holding this rattle in the air, and moving it with speed, a rapid current of air is established in each of the portions of the cylinder, and a snoring is heard, similar to that produced by the German spinning top.To spin the top, you raise and lower the sticks alternately, with a quick backward shift of the string at the end of each rotating impulse. When the speed is great enough to stabilize the top in flight, just whip the sticks apart to toss it into the air. As the spool comes down you catch it on a sloping string and let it roll down into slack bunched near one end. The diabolo (/diːˈæbəloʊ/ dee-AB-ə-loh; commonly misspelled diablo) is a juggling or circus prop consisting of an axle (British English: bobbin) and two cups (hourglass/egg timer shaped) or discs derived from the Chinese yo-yo. This object is spun using a string attached to two hand sticks ('batons' or 'wands'). A large variety of tricks are possible with the diabolo, including tosses, and various types of interaction with the sticks, string, and various parts of the user's body. Multiple diabolos can be spun on a single string. Like the Western yo-yo, it maintains its spinning motion through a rotating effect based on conservation of angular momentum. Chinese archaeologists theorize that the Chinese diabolo (or Chinese yo-yo) originated from the Chinese spinning top. In the Hemudu Excavation, wooden tops were excavated. In order to extend the spinning time of the tops, whips were used to spin the top. This released a sound, and gradually evolved into the term 'Kongzhu' (Chinese: 空竹; pinyin: Kōng zhú; literally: 'Air Bamboo'). It was speculated that the Chinese poet Cao Zhi in the Three Kingdoms period had composed the poem 'Rhapsody of Diabolos 《空竹赋》', making it the first record of the diabolo in Chinese history. The authenticity of the poem 'Rhapsody of Diabolos 《空竹赋》' however requires further research and proof. By the Tang dynasty, the Chinese diabolo had become widespread as a form of toy. However, the Chinese scholar Wu Shengda 吳盛達, who lived in Taiwan, argued that records of the Chinese diabolo only appeared during the late Ming dynasty Wanli period, with its details well recorded in the book Dijing Jingwulue, which refers to diabolos as 'Kong Zhong' (simplified Chinese: 空钟; traditional Chinese: 空鐘; pinyin: Kōng zhong; literally: 'Air Bell'). Chinese yo-yos have a longer axle with discs on either end, while the diabolo has a very short axle and larger, round cups on either end. Diabolos are made of different materials and come in different sizes and weights. There are many names in the Chinese language for the Chinese yo-yo: The first known mention of a diabolo in the Western world was made by a missionary, Father Amiot, in Beijing in 1792 during Lord Macartney's ambassadorship, after which examples were brought to Europe, as was the sheng (eventually adapted to the harmonica and accordion). The diabolo was part of a presentation of Chinese culture edited by stenographer Jean-Baptiste Joseph Breton in 1811-2 (La Chine en miniature). The toy's popularity waxed and waned throughout the 19th century. In 1812 the diabolo 'was all the rage'; then it 'enjoyed an ephemeral vogue' until it 'finally fell into discredit' some time before 1861. Some consider the toy dangerous; injuries and deaths of players and bystanders have been claimed; and Préfet de Police Louis Lépine once outlawed the game in the streets of Paris. The term 'diabolo' was coined by French engineer Gustave Phillippart, who developed the modern diabolo in the early twentieth century, although credit has also been given to Charles Burgess Fry (The Outdoor Magazine in 1906) or Fry and Phillippart. The term is derived the name from the Greek dia bolo, roughly meaning 'across throw'. 'In Greek, the term 'diaballo' means to throw across. It comes from a combination of 'dia' meaning across or through (as in the diameter of a circle, a line that crosses circle), and 'bolla' or originally 'ballo' which means to throw...' The Greek word 'diabolos' (the devil, originally 'the liar' or 'the one that commits perjury', from the verb 'diaballo', which means 'to throw in', 'to generate confusion', 'to divide', or 'to make someone fall', later used by Christian writers as 'the liar that speaks against God'), from which many modern languages' words for 'devil' (French: jeu de diable, diable, Italian: diavolo, Spanish: diablo, Portuguese: diabo, German: Teufel, Polish: diabeł) derive, is unrelated. The term 'loriot' was used in England, as well as 'rocket-ball'. Confusion about the provenance of the name may have arisen from the earlier name 'the devil on two sticks', although nowadays this often also refers to another circus-based skill toy, the devil stick. 'In time 'diabolo' was retained for the spinning version of the Chinese stick toy while the hitting version of the stick toy was rendered into English as the Devil Stick.'