The origin of the second element in the Icelandicized Scottish personal name 'Melkólmur' (English 'Malcolm') is identical to the surname Columbus and is based on the christian idea of using the 'dove' as a symbol of peace. The second element Kólmur can be used as an adapted form of 'Columbus' and toponyms based upon this personal name. The name occurs in the Orkneyinga saga and means 'Servant of the female Saint Columba (Kólma))'. The book 'Keltar á Íslandi' by Hermann Pálsson mentions: Upprunalegri mynd nafnssins, MELKÓLMUR, er hins vegar notuð um ýmsa Skotakonunga í Orkneyinga sögu (27, 43, 82, 84, 98 o.s.frv.) og Fagurskinni (309-10). Orkneyingasaga getur einnig um Melkólm jarl á Merhæfi (289).
With 'Kólmur, Kólms-' as a toponymic element it is now possible to construct Icelandic versions of place-names derived from the surname Columbus:
Kólmsland (Columbia in South America, kólmlenskur, Kólmlendingur)
Kólmshérað Vessingatúns (Washington (D.C. District of Columbia, for Washington google 'Icelandic equivalents of the English-place-names' (pdf-file))
Breskt Kólmsland (British Columbia)
Kólmshöfn (Colombo, Sri Lanka, the original Singalese name Kolon thota, meaning "port on the river Kelani was mixed up with the name Columbus)
Kólmsborg (Columbus, Ohio), St. Kitts (Kólmsey)
Kólmshöfn (Coloń, Panama)
Other terms based upon the name Columbus or its derivatives:
Columbite (A niobium ore named after South American Columbia): Kólmgrýti
The correct Icelandic form of the surname Columbus would strictly be Kólmungur, but translated surnames in Icelandic literature like Hróbjartur Píll (Robert Peel), Niðskeifur (Nidschib), Jón Hrísill (all occuring in Skírnir) have no -ungur or -ingur prefix, so this means that no further derivation of Kólmur, even though we're dealing with a surname here, seems to be necessary: Kólmur.
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