[FOM] re the meaning of set - here are some down-to-earth examples to consider

[Dean Buckner]

I have a discussion here about the history of the words 'set' and
'class' and their cognates on my website here.

http://uk.geocities.com/frege@btinternet.com/cantor/Classes.htm

(This benefited a lot from German-speaking contributors to the Historia
Mathematica website in 2004).

Briefly, logicians used the word 'class' before the twentieth century.
The word 'set' has a complicated etymology, related to the word 'sect',
but also connected with an entirely different word meaning to put in
place.  Note that all the biblical quotations mentioned by Isaac Malitz
are translations of different Latin words.  E.g.

STATUET oves a dextris suis
he shall SET the sheep on his right hand

duodecim lapides POSUIT Iosue in medio Iordanis 
Joshua SET UP twelve stones in the midst of Jordan

et STATUIT Abraham septem agnas gregis seorsum
And Abraham SET seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.  Genesis
21:28

haec sunt iudicia quae PROPONES eis
these are the judgments which thou shalt SET before    
them.