Hinba is an island in Scotland of uncertain location that was the site of a small monastery associated with the Columban church on Iona.[1] Although a number of details are known about the monastery and its early superiors, and various anecdotes dating from the time of Columba of a mystical nature have survived, modern scholars are divided as to its whereabouts. The source of information about the island is Adomnán's late 7th-century Vita Columbae.
The islands of Eileach an Naoimh, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay are the most likely candidates, although Seil and Canna are also possibilities.
The origin of the name 'Hinba' appears to be Goidelic. The Hebrides remain the stronghold of the modern Gàidhealtachd and unsurprisingly this language has had a significant influence on the island names still found there. Why then would an island name vanish from the records? As a result of the Norse impact on Scotland from some point prior to 900 AD and for several centuries thereafter many of the Hebridean island names were altered or replaced. It has been argued that these changes to the onomasticon only applied to the islands north of Ardnamurchan and that original Gaelic place names predominate to the south.[2] However, recent research suggests that the obliteration of pre-Norse names throughout the Hebrides was almost total and Gaelic derived place names on the southern islands are of post-Norse origin.[3][4] Some islands names have been more persistent, especially amongst the larger islands but it is clear that that is not the case for Hinba.[5]