Thanks a lot guys! You're gonna laugh at what prompted my query. I was attempting to trace the origin of my surname (:=)) and among various possibilities (in Vasmer and elsewhere) found that mention of "kinesh" by Dobrev, allegedly in some Eastern Iranian tongue (in the sense of "seed', "sowing", "growth", with an alleged Celtic cognate (but with no references).
Your notion of "small, compressed" (entity) actually looks pretty good... (:=)))
From: dgkilday57 <dgkilday57@...>
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 1:11 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] request to Celtic specialists
--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> W dniu 2011-10-24 00:12, george knysh pisze:
>
> > Would that root also be traceable in any Indo-Iranian speech? Given PEI
> > *ken-
>
> Possibly the root of PIIr. *kani-Han- 'young', cf. Gk. kainós 'new'.
Burrow, in "A note on the Indo-Iranian root <kan-> 'small' and on the etymology of Latin <canis> 'dog'" (TrPhS 81:155-64, 1983), etc. /cut for economy/