Magnets and Lodestones – an Ancient Greek Story

Hello,

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on a new download, “Words People and Places Gave Us” for the Wordfoolery blog. I post these as a bonus for blog readers and book fans and you’ll find the current set of downloads here. Each is free to read.

In 2018 I published my first book, “How to Get Your Name in the Dictionary”, about the amazing people whose names became words in our English dictionary – cardigan, casanova, montessori, pavlova, stetson, sandwich, boycott, and hundreds more. It was my first book and several more have followed since then but it always bothered me when I’d come across another eponym (word named for a person) or toponym (word named for a place) which I hadn’t included.

Naturally, because I love words, I gathered them. I realised I had enough for a sequel to the first book, but perhaps not quite enough for an entire paperback. And so “Words People and Places Gave Us” was born. It will go on the download page from mid-June 2024.

In the meantime I thought you’d like to read an extract – the ancient Greek tale of magnets and lodestones.

Magnet

{extract from “Words People and Places Gave Us”, copyright Grace Tierney 2024}

This type of iron ore, a variety of magnetite, is characterised by its power of attraction with iron and steel. The word magnet has been with us since the mid 1400s and was earlier spelled as magnes. It comes from magnete in Old French, magnetum in Latin and Magnes lithos in Greek. The Greek form gives us the clue to the place. It’s a Magnesian stone from Magnesia in Thessaly (northern Greece) where the ore was found.

Some older texts called a magnet a lodestone (way-stone) because it was used in basic compass devices to help you find your way.

ship’s compass

Similar words to magnet exist in many Western European languages. One fun exception is Spanish caramida which is from Latin calamus (red, stalk, straw) because of the magnetic ore needle being inserted in a stalk to allow it to float on water and point north – one of the most basic ways to create a compass.

{end of extract}

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

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