I coincidentally stumbled upon a construction that could work as an Icelandic personal name for the Titan Atlas in Greek Mythology, one from with all derivatives like "Atlantis", "Atlantic", "Atlas mountains", "atlas" (landabréfabók) could (theoretically) be derived, instead of having to look for different equivalents for each, like "Serkjafjöll" or "Mára-Alpar" (Atlas Mountains) or "Aftanhaf" (Evening-sea, based upon the old and Obsolete German "Abendmeer" for the atlantic Ocean, which was in its turn derived from "Abendland" (Europe).
I based my construction on the comparison of the Norse god "Þór" to figures like "Hercules" in Greek Mythology. I was also inspired by the construction "Krítar-Þór" in Old Icelandic writings, which was mentioned as a name for Zeus.
Hercules and Atlas cooperated in the theft of the Golden Apples of the Hesperides (Vesturdísir), one of Hercules' twelve "assignments". Hercules temporarily took over the heavenly vault from Atlas, so the latter could steal the golden apples.
This links Atlas to Hercules as a "Kraftajötunn". Hercules was a demi-god, but Atlas was a Titan, thus a god. For that reason I made the compound Axla-Þór (genitive plural of "öxl", "axla-", referring to the body-part on which the heavenly vault rested) + Þór in the sense of "kraftaguð". Atlas was a Titan, a giant and a deity.
I've looked through dozens of possible candidates and, in my opinion, "Axla-Þór" stood out as the best choice. It is not too long and sounds somewhat similar to "Atlas". The first character is an "A", and it has the consonant "l" and the "þ' of "Þór", not the same as a "T" but still there is a good dose of sound-similarity between Atas and Axla-Þór, it is explanatory and it is constructed like a personal name, so I decided to base all the derivatives of "Atlas" on this construction.
Too outlandish? No, think of the word "fórnarlamb" (literally "fórn (sacrifice) + "lamb" (lamb), which means "victim". We have a similar word in Dutch: "slachtoffer" (slaughter-sacrifice) and we use that for someone who died in, for instance, a plane-crash. This is a clear example that words are just "lables". We don't think of a lamb that is slaughtered if we use the word to designate a victim of an accident. In the same way: "axlaþór" (in the meaning of "landabréfabók" (book of maps, atlas it is written without a capital and a hyphen.
The derivations of Axla-Þór
Atlas Mountains: Axlaþórsfjöll (instead of "Márafjöll" or "Púnmundíafjöll" (Pún- (Punic) + Mundíafjöll (Alps), the Atlas and the Alps belong to the "alpine orogeny".)
Atlantic (adj.): Axlaþórs-, axlþýris- ("axlþýrskur" is NOT possible because "þýrskur" has the same pronounciation as "þýskur").
Atlantic Ocean: Axlaþórshafið (Instead of Aftanshaf (German "abendmeer", derived from "Abendland" (Western Europe)
Atlantic city (U.S. city) : Axlaþórshafsborg
Atlantides (Inhabitants of the mythical island of atlantis): Axlþýringar
NATO: Axlarþórshafsbandalagið, Axlþýrisbandalagið
Atlanta (U.S. city): Axlþýrisborg (í Gyrgisfylki (Georgia))
Atlanticist: Axlþýringur, axlþýrissinni (Someone who supports NATO)
Atlantis (mythical island): Axlaþórsey
atlas (landabréfabók): The word "atlas" in the meaning of "book of maps" goes back to the 16th century Dutch cartographer Gerard Mercator (see added picture) who depicted the Titan on the cover his atlases. At first glance it looks out-of-this-world to use this construction for "landabréfabók": "Opnaðu "axlaþórar" þínir á blaðsíðu ...", but if you use the international word "atlas" you also use exactly the same word as the Titan's name.
I used the plural form "axlaþórar". But, ... first names in Icelandic have no plural, or do they? But it can be necessary on rare occasions. What if you have to say say for instance: "How many "Stefanies" are there in Iceland". In this case, one has to use the plural "Stefaníur" or "Stebbur". Now, "Stefanía" is a weak noun and therefore an easy one, but what about "Þór"? I checked all masculine, monosyllabic strong nouns and all had "-ar" in the nominative plural, so I guess the plural of "axlaþór" would be "axlaþórar": "Opnaðu axlaþórar þínir á bls. ..." I know, it is a stretch, but it is hardcore-Icelandic and peculiar, because it is not done in any language of the world.
