Talk:Columba

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[edit] Writings

I am looking for information regarding the writings of Columba. All the sites i have searched thus far only give me a biography of his life. However, i am working on an assignment for my Latin class for which i need to know about his works. Can anyone help me?

[edit] Copyright

My mother tells me that Colmcille was the cause of the first copyright laws.. anyone got any information on this?

I think she's probably refering to the dispute over the psalter.

There was no such idea as copyright - much less a law about it - until centuries later.

[edit] Masculine/Femenine?

Considering Columba was a male.. why is his 'Latinized' name Columb-a instead of Columb-us .. as it would be. *shrugs*

'Columba' is the Latin for 'dove' and is a feminine noun.

Maybe some study of Gaelic would be in order. His name was Calum. If in Latin he was being called "Dove of the Church" that's not a personal name and does not need to be masculine. In any case a number of male names in Gaelic today end in -a: Màta, Anndra being notable.

[edit] Saint Columb the man and Saint Columb the woman

There were more than one Saint Columba. The most famous one is the Irishman who settled at Iona in Scotland, but there are at least three female saints who bear the same name; (1.) Saint Columba (the Virgin) originally from Ireland but has dedications in Cornwall, (2.) Saint Columba of Sens who was originally fron Spain but has dedications in France and another (3.) Saint Columba of Spain. Although there are three differnt people their legends are curiously similar.

Talskiddy 20:29, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Colmcille or Columba?

I find it odd that he is under the name 'Columba' here. Throughout Ireland he is known as Colmcille, and this is reflected in the amount of GAA clubs so named. Colmcille is the most common version in English in Ireland, with the final vowel pronounced like an 'e' rather than an 'a' as is the case in the Irish pronunciation. Until recently I thought Columba was either a spaceshuttle or a variant of a guy who takes credit for discovering America. The version used here seems to be the British version, and it is certainly the case that in Ireland where an Anglican and Catholic church are in the one town, the former uses Columba and the latter Colmcille. Ceannanas Mór/ Kells in Meath, where Colmcille resided, is a case in point. A Google Irish search of 'Colmcille' has 44000 results, all of which refer to the Saint. A Google Irish pages search of 'Columba' has 66000 results, the first two of which are Columba Press and Columba Global Systems. The third directs to a website called www.colmcille.ie. The majority of the others have little or no connection to Colmcille. A further Google search of 'Columcille' adds 10,000 more results, and other variants on Colm Cille increase this figure greatly. And as a writer above points out there were very many other Columbas. I think he should be on Wikipedia by the name he is best known by in Ireland. And that is Colmcille. El Gringo 04:49, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Columba is the Latin name, and by far the most common English one. His Old Irish name is Colum Cille, the "Dove of the Church". The name itself is actually a Gaelicization of a Latin word, meaning "dove", which some suggest was the nickname given to him by St. Uinniau, his teacher (the guy would developed into St. Ninian and St. Finnian). Columba is hence no "British" conspiracy, and in fact is the name he is almost always referred to as in Irish historiography. Other thing, I'd reject the idea that Irish usage takes precedence, as in Scotland he is commonly regarded as the founder of Scottish christianity, and in many ways, the father of the Scottish nation. Having said that, I wouldn't be against support moving the page to Colum Cille (although I would be against Colm Cille). - Calgacus (ΚΑΛΓΑΚΟΣ) 11:49, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reliable?

Is all this information facts or legends?-Agoodperson

As close to the facts as anything like this can be. It's based on a Life written less than a century after Columba's death, and possibly within the lifetime of people who had met Columba. Adomnán may also have used parts of Cumméne's Life, and Cumméne would certainly have met many people who had known Columba. Angus McLellan (Talk) 11:19, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reintroduced Christianity?

I am not an expert in this area, so I am reluctant to intervene; but I suspect the statement that Columba and his Gaelic monks 'reintroduced' Christianity to Scotland is untrue for the simple reason that it had never completely gone away since the earlier mission of Ninian in the south of the country. Were the Strathclyde Britons and the Dalriada Scots-before the foundation of Iona- not already Christian to some degree or other? I always understood Columba's mission to be specifically aimed at the northern Picts, translated in the popular imagination to the conversion of Scotland in general. Rcpaterson 07:49, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

I share your misgivings and Barbara Yorke's recent Conversion of Britain shares them too. Even if we limit ourselves to Pictland, Columba's retrospective importance owes rather a lot to his kinsmen. Mo Luóc of Lismore was his contemporary, and Uinniau (assuming that he is Finnbarr/Finnian/Ninian) was his teacher. Even Palladius is, rightly or wrongly, associated with Pictish foundations. Angus McLellan (Talk) 09:40, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
Columba's legacy depends on the Picts. The Picts made him their apostle in their own tradition. They believed that Columba converted them. Since Uinniau/Ninian was probably Columba's teacher, one can speak of the Ninian-Columban mission. However, the idea that conversion of one or two great men is probably the weakest one. Christianity in southern Scotland predates both men. Calgacus (ΚΑΛΓΑΚΟΣ) 14:31, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cultural depictions of Columba

I've started an approach that may apply to Wikipedia's Core Biography articles: creating a branching list page based on in popular culture information. I started that last year while I raised Joan of Arc to featured article when I created Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc, which has become a featured list. Recently I also created Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great out of material that had been deleted from the biography article. Since cultural references sometimes get deleted without discussion, I'd like to suggest this approach as a model for the editors here. Regards, Durova 17:20, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Columba or Saint Columba

This page is currently named Columba. I notice that this in inconsistent with the naming of other Saints on wikipedia. For example Saint Kentigern, Saint Patrick, Saint Ninian, Saint Andrew, etc.

I suggest moving this page to Saint Columba.

Actually, naming conventions on WP denote that for general use, titles like "saint" are left out of the article title. See WP:NCWC. Patrick is a notable exception, as is Nicholas. Most saints are listed as "name" with "saint" in the article; or as "name of place" with saint or other titles in the article. Pastordavid 19:55, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Arthur?

Does the fact that the name "Arthur" is used in a document that elsewhere mentions Columba really have significance to this coverage of Columba? SOmeone's putting out dots that have littel connection.

[edit] Removed ref to British Columbia

I removed this paragraph from the Lasting legacy section:

He indirectly gave his name to the Canadian province British Columbia. The Columbia River, for which the province is named, got its name from the ship Columbia Rediviva, named after Columba.

Columbia was such a common name for the place that Columbus discovered that unless someone has a citation for the ship being named for the saint, this is speculation. I note that a similar assertion has been removed from the article about the ship. —crism (talk) 05:14, 4 April 2008 (UTC)