original M.E. spelling of load (q.v.), and custodian of most of the original meaning. Differentiation in sense took place 16c. Mining sense of "vein of metal ore" is from 1602, from notion of miners "following" it through the rock. Lodestone "magnetic oxide of iron" (1515) was used as a magnet to guide mariners; lodestar (c.1374) was an old name for the pole star (cf. O.N. leiðarstjarna) as the star that "leads the way" in navigation.