"variety of magnetite characterized by its power of attracting iron and steel," mid-15c. (earlier magnes, late 14c.), from Old French magnete "magnetite, magnet, lodestone," and directly from Latin magnetum (nominative magnes) "lodestone," from Greek ho Magnes lithos "the Magnesian stone," from Magnesia (see magnesia), region in Thessaly where magnetized ore was obtained. Figurative sense of "something which attracts" is from 1650s.

It has spread from Latin to most Western European languages (German and Danish magnet, Dutch magneet, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese magnete), but it was superseded in French by aimant (from Latin adamas; see adamant (n.)). Italian calamita "magnet" (13c.), French calamite (by 16c., said to be from Italian), Spanish caramida (15c., probably from Italian) apparently is from Latin calamus "reed, stalk or straw of wheat" (see shawm) "the needle being inserted in a stalk or piece of cork so as to float on water" [Donkin]. Chick magnet attested from 1989.

"the doctrine that one person can exercise influence over the will and nervous system of another and produce certain phenomena by virtue of a supposed emanation called animal magnetism," 1798, from French mesmérisme, named for Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), Austrian physician who developed a theory of animal magnetism and a mysterious body fluid which allows one person to hypnotize another and propounded it in 1778 in Paris. The word, if still used is practically synonymous with hypnotism or artificial somnambulism. Another similar word for the same effect was braidism. An old term for "hypnotic suggestion" was mesmeric promise. Related: Mesmerist

also electro-magnetism, "the collective term for phenomena which rest upon the relation between electric currents and magnetism," 1821; see electro- + magnetism.