several

The word 'several' has a journey from concrete separation to abstract quantification. It originates from the Latin verb 'separare', meaning "to pull apart" or "to divide," which itself is a compound of 'se-' (apart) and 'parare' (to make ready, to provide). Through Anglo-French, it entered Middle English as an adjective meaning "separate" or "distinct," often used in legal contexts to denote individual, private rights or property. Over time, the sense of distinct individual items evolved into the modern quantifying determiner meaning "an indefinite but small number of distinct things," logically extending from the idea of considering items separately from a larger group.

The word is a simplex. It entered English from Anglo-French 'several', which derived from Medieval Latin 'separalis' (from Latin 'separare', meaning to separate). The core root is the Latin verb 'separare'.