caomhain

spare, save, caomhnadh, sparing, Irish caoimhnaim, preserve, keep, protect, caomhaighim, caomhnuighim, preserve. The last form seems the most original, if we refer the root to Old Irish anich, protegit, aingim, I protect (a-nak), root nak and nank, as in adhlac, thig, etc. The form nak is more particularly allied to Sanskrit náçati, reach, Lithuanian neszù, draw. The Gaelic verb may have been *com-anich-. It is possible to derive it from caomh with caomhuin as an inf. form which usurped the place of the present stem.