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After reading the etymology of 設, I read that of one of the underlying ideograms: 殳.
Pictogram (象形) or Ideogrammic compound (會意): 几 + 又 – a hand holding a tool, hence activity.
How does 几 resemble a hand?
How does 又 resemble a tool? What tool is being referred to?
This YouTube video didn't assist.
Slight correction, 「殳」 originally depicted a hand 「又」 holding a spear/rod-like weapon/club.
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Forms 1, 3, 5, 6 are all 「殳」. Form 2 is the character 「㱿」. Form 4 is the character 「毀」. Take note of the right hand side of 「㱿」 and 「毀」, which both have 「殳」 as a component.
「殳」 originally depicted a hand 「又」 holding a spear, rod, or club-like weapon, which now looks like 「几」. The original meaning of 「殳」, a kind of weapon, is now written as 「杸」.
As a character component giving a meaning hint, 「殳」 originally had something to do with attacking or hitting. For example,
「擊」 to attack
「殺」 to kill
「毀」 to destroy, ruin
「役」 enslave > labour
「聲」 sound (ears 耳 hearing stone chimes 声 being struck 殳)
Through semantic extension, it was also used as a marker for verb-like words or morphemes, such as
「發」 (to shoot arrows > emit)
「設」 (to establish)
References:
l,morsdirectly before.jpg.