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the "well-understood" etymology seems far-fetched to me... they want to deny that theos [θεός] and deus are related, so they invent a connection between god and the concept "to set, put" rather than "to shine" as is claimed as root meaning for deus. it looks rather unlikely to me.
many linguists through the ages have acknowledged that deus and θεός are cognates. recent application of PIE "laws" are used to "disprove" the connection... but let's keep in mind that ALL of the entire PIE project is based on conjecture. it is a model. how does one *prove* anything based on reference to a reconstruction... it's like "proving" that all ancient Athenian statues were flamboyantly painted by pointing to a museum's reconstruction which shows them thus...