According to The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition, the English word “carousel” derives from “carrousel” (French) and “carosello” (Italian). Both of these words originally meant “…a tournament in which knights or horsemen engaged in various exercises and races”. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/carousel for additional details. Clearly, carousel is an older term than merry-go-round. I had always used the two terms interchangeably, but there is a structural distinction. Carousels are permanently housed in a building, the roof of which supports the ride’s center column; the structural support for merry-go-rounds comes from cables attached to ground posts.
A somewhat different historical claim can be found in a lovely web page: jnor.tripod.com/carousels.html. “The earliest visual record of a carousel is a Byzantine bas-relief circa 500 AD, which shows riders swinging in baskets, tied to a center-pole. Fifteenth and early Seventeenth Century drawings depict similar scenes. The name ‘carousel’ is derived from the Italian and Spanish words garosello and carosella which mean “little war” and describe a serious game played on horseback in Arabia and Turkey in the 12th Century. The French added lavish displays of clothing and horsemanship to their ‘carouselles’.”
A detailed history of carousel/merry-go-round rides can be found in “The Outdoor Amusement Industry: From the Earliest Times to the Present”, by William F. Mangels (Vantage Press, NY, 1952). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_ring for a discussion of amusement rides with ring dispensers. In their heyday, roughly 1880-1920, this combination was so popular that “reaching for the brass ring” became a familiar expression. The phone app, “Rings”, adheres to my childhood usage by referring to the prize at the end of the dispenser as the Gold Ring.
So where can one play this game for real? According to the web site, carousels.org, in the entire United States there are fewer than 11 amusement rides that still feature ring dispensers. In short, you are unlikely to find a nearby carousel/merry-go-round where you can try your hand at “grabbing the brass ring”. Still, I hope that playing “Rings” inspires you to experience real thing