Re: "semantic" etymology and my dream

Although I'm a fan of Bronkhorst, I'm not a fan of this term "semantic
etymology".

Max Stirner (a 19th century German philosopher) asserted the etymology
of "religion" was "to bind back", viz., our religion is whatever we
bind ourselves to, or find ourselves restrained by.

This is to posit [Latin] /re/ + /ligare/ (ligo) as the etymology.

Is this more or less "semantic" than what we commonly find in dictionaries?

Is it more or less "historical"?

No, the question, really, is whether or not it is false; and like so
many examples in the classical Indian context, this one, too, is
asserted from the first as a kind of fallacy.

It is not a true word-origin, it is a tacit (philosophical) argument,
presented as if the etymology of a word.  Thus, "false etymology".

E.M.