Columbanus
/koʊˈlʌm.bə.nəs/noun
A Latinized personal name, best known from Saint Columbanus, a 6th–7th-century Irish missionary and monastic founder.
Did you know?Columbanus is built from the same dove-root as Latin columba, and in Christian symbolism the dove became the visible sign of the Holy Spirit descending at baptism.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ḱel-
“to call, shout; likely the distant ancestral source of Latin words for naming and calling”
Latin
Latin
columba
“dove, pigeon”
Late Latin
Latin
Columbānus
“formed as a personal name meaning “of the dove” or “little dove””
Early Medieval Latin
Latin
Sanctus Columbānus
“the name of the Irish monk and missionary known in Latin records”
Modern English
English
Columbanus
“the Latinized name of Saint Columbanus”
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