General Semantics, linguistics and IE

Cross-posted from IndianCivilization egroup.

Is it possible to evaluate the etyma of IE in terms of general
semantics, to achieve precision in the 'dating' of words? A broader
question is the relationship between general semantics (as it has
evolved over 50 years) and linguistics (as it has evolved over 200
years).

This is an excerpt from the Encyclopaedia Britannica:

"general semantics. a philosophy of language-meaning that was
developed by Alfred Korzybski (1879-1950), a Polish-American scholar,
and furthered by S.I. Hayakawa, Wendell Johnson, and others; it is the
study of language as a representation of reality. Korzybski's theory
was intended to improve the habits of response to nvironment. Drawing
upon such varied disciplines as relativity theory, quantum mechanics,
and mathematical logic, Korzybski and his followers sought a
scientific, non-Aristotelian basis for clear understanding of the
differences between symbol (word) and reality (referent) and the ways
in which words themselves can influence (or manipulate) and limit
human ability to think.

"A major emphasis of general semantics has been in
practical training, in methods for establishing better habits of
evaluation, e.g., by indexing words, as "man1," "man37," and by
dating, as "Roosevelt1930," "Roosevelt1940," to indicate exactly which
man or which stage of time one is referring to."