Sælir allir lærdómsmenn!

> > At any rate, we have: Maðr er nefndr Grímr kamban;

A man was called Grímr kamban. What could be simpler? Well, yes,
it's a name, and I recognize it as a name. But where did the -an
ending come from? That looks like an accusative masculine adjective
ending.

>
> Good observation. It isn't an inflectional ending, though.
> The name is thought to be of Irish origin (Cammán) and 'an'
> can be considered a part of the stem.

"Kamban" is likely just an extinct feminine noun with article. It
more than likely means something like "the ...head" or "...haired" or
"...bearded". Compare ON kampr, m. 1)beard on the lips, moustache 2)
the whiskers (of a seal) and ON kampr, f. 1)comb 2)carding-comb 3)
crest, comb. This last meaning of "crest/comb" might apply to Grímr
if his hair was seen as "high" or "like a peacock". Perhaps "kampa"
had some connection with an animal that had a tuft of hair standing
upright on its head. Whatever the case, "kampa" almost certainly has
something to do with our hero´s hair or beard. Consider that both of
the masculines cited having something to do with hair or what one
does with it. Compare also the many other saga-age characters who
bore nicknames refering to physical features of the head or face.
Here are two examples: Eiríkr Rauði (refering to his red hair) and
Ketill Flatnefr (refering to his flat nose). Given that we have more
than one extant word from the root kamp-, and given that the people
of the time were fond of these kinds of nicknames, I see no reason
to choose the easy way out and defer to a different tongue. It also
seems fairly obvious that nicknames tend to be drawn from one´s
native tongue. It also seems fairly obvious that Grímr spoke Norse
as his native tongue. My vote, therefore, is for the extinct feminine
noun "kamba". Tongues change and other Norse words are known to have
died out as well. We must also not forget how many "scholars" reach
for the fashionable and trendy whenever the opportunity presents
itself. Deriving "kampan" from Irish seems like such a "kamp"-out.
That´s my tuff-of-hair´s worth.

Regards,
Konrad.