lodestone

The word 'lodestone' has a beautifully literal origin in Middle English. 'Lode' meant a 'way' or 'course', as seen in the related word 'lodestar', a star that guides one's course. 'Stone' simply refers to the mineral. The compound 'lode-stone' therefore originally meant "way-stone" or "guiding stone," a perfectly descriptive name for the naturally magnetic mineral magnetite, which was used in early compasses to point the way for travelers and navigators. This concrete meaning of a physical object that guides evolved into the modern abstract sense of anything that exerts a powerful attraction.

Structure: lode (way, course) + stone (rock) - lode: From Middle English 'lode', meaning 'way, course, journey'. Its functional role is to convey the sense of a guiding path or course. - stone: From Old English 'stān', meaning 'rock, stone'. Its functional role is to denote the physical mineral substance.