Magnesia

The lodestone is named for Magnesia.

Greek Magnēs lithos, “stone of Magnesia,” named the lodestone for a district in Thessaly (and sometimes for Magnesia in Asia Minor). English magnet is that place-name, now used for any attracting body.

The metal is a scrambled form of Magnesia, like magnesium and magnet.

Ores from Magnesia in Thessaly produced several names in Latin and Italian that blurred into one another. Manganese, magnesium and magnet all come back to the same district.