I think PIE *kentom (PIE kantom?) is *kent-om (PPIE *kant-om?) either gpl. "of flocks" or adverbially "flock-wise", having to do with military organization
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/55551
It would therefore seem appropriate to look for an etymology for 'thousand' (Slav. tyse,t-, Lith. tukstant-, Estonian tuhat, -nde) ie. donor language *tu:s-ant- vel sim. (this smells Venetic or Old European, but it's North)
The list of PPGmc mobile-stress nouns
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/62159
contains, among others, the nouns
'*þre:xila- (*þraxila-?) : *þreGila- "Diener, Knecht"'
'*þranxu- : *þranGu-(?) "gedrängt"'
which shows that the whole *dran,W- complex
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/60773
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/58459
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/61626
might be part of the language these Germanic words are drawn from (probably the ar-/ur- etc language).
The list also contains
'*tuxila- : *tuGila- "Band, Riemen, Zügel"'
'*-tuxan- : *-tuGan- "Führer"'
probably cognate with Latin dux and Dutch touw "rope"
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/160
We have thus a similar semantic spread for both words (they might even be related by initial cluster simplification *dran,W- > *dan,W- vel sim.; not Baltic Finnic though, which would do *dr- > *r-, cf. Estonian rong "train"): "rope team"/"pull"/"barge dragger". Therefore it is tempting to implicate that word in the "thousand" root too, thus: *tuG-s-ont- "flock-wise" etc.
No swelling here, it seems.
Torsten