cnuasaich

ponder, collect, Irish cnuasuighim, cnuas, a collection, scraping together, Gaelic and Irish cnuasachd, reflection, collection, *knousto-; root knu, knevo, scrape, Greek $$Gknúw, scratch, Norse hnöggr, niggard, English niggard, Anglo-Saxon hneáw, sparing. The idea is "scraping together": a niggard is "one who scrapes". Stokes (Dict.) gives the root as knup, and compares Lithuanian knupsyti, oppress. St. now, possibly, *knoud-to, Norse, knúðr, ball. Cf. cruinnich, for force.