Borrowed from Latin magnēs (“lodestone”), from Ancient Greek μαγνῆτις [λίθος] (magnêtis [líthos], “Magnesian [stone]”), either after the Lydian city Magnesia ad Sipylum (modern-day Manisa, Turkey), or after the Greek region of Μαγνησία (Magnēsía) (whence came the colonist who founded the city in Lydia).