The toy came into the USA in the 1920s from the Philippines where the word ‘yo yo’ means ‘come come’. In the Orient and ancient Greece yo-yos had been popular for centuries.
Duncan was not the inventor of the yo-yo; they have been around for over twenty-five hundred years. In fact, the yo-yo is considered the second oldest toy in history, the oldest being the doll. In ancient Greece, the toy was made of wood, metal and terra cotta. The Greeks decorated the two halves of the yo-yo with pictures of their gods. As a right of passage into adulthood Greek children often gave up their toys and placed them on the family altar to pay homage.
Around 1800, the yo-yo moved into Europe from the Orient. The British called the yo-yo the bandalore, quiz, or the Prince of Wales toy. The French used the name incroyable or l’emigrette. However, it is a Tagalog word, the native language of the Philippines, and means “come back.” In the Philippines, the yo-yo was used as a weapon for over 400 hundred years. Their version was large with sharp edges and studs and attached to thick twenty-foot ropes for flinging at enemies or prey.
People in the U.S. started playing with the British bandalore or yo-yo in the 1860s. It was not until the 1920s that Americans first heard the word yo-yo. Pedro Flores, a Philippine immigrant, began manufacturing a toy labeled with that name. Flores became the first person to mass-produce toy yo-yos, at his small toy factory located in California.
Credit : Thought Co.
Picture Credit : Google
