Etymologically
Log in

magnes

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 14:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmaŋ.neːs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmaɲ.ɲes][1]

Forms

magnēs m (genitive magnētis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μάγνης (mágnēs, “magnet”), perhaps the same as Μάγνης (Mágnēs, “Magnesian”), after Magnesia, where the stone was found.[2][1][3] Lucretius says the Greeks named it from its home among the Magnesians.[4] Isidore instead names it after its finder, a herdsman Magnes, in India.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero, whom he dates 81–43 BC.[3] Lucretius, whom Köbler dates 96–55 BC, uses the accusative magnēta.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It meant the lodestone, magnet, magnēs lapis or simply magnēs, as in Lucretius, Cicero and Pliny the Elder.[2][4][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a magnet or lodestone.[7] British Medieval Latin used it for the lodestone, as in Aldhelm's riddle.[8] It was borrowed into Italian as magnete, and Old French magnete and English magnet descend from it.[1] Modern Latin magnēticus gave English magnetic in the 1610s.[1][9]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the magnet.[2][4][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses magnēs lapis.[6][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes it.[4][3]
  • 1610s – English magnetic is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The lodestone, magnet.[2]

Usage notes

As an adjective, Magnēs means of Magnesia, and in the plural its people.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com