several English · revision 3912

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1421|origins=la sēparāre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈsev.ᵊr.ᵊl/, /ˈsev.rᵊl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|several]], [[bor|xno|several]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(MW Collegiate) from [[la-med|sēparālis|t=separable, separate]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(MWU 2024) from [[la|sēpar|t=separate, different]],^(Etymonline)^(COED 2004) a [[back-formation]] from [[m|la|sēparāre|t=to separate]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988) itself from [[m|la|sē-|t=apart]] and [[m|la|parāre|t=to make ready, prepare]].^(Etymonline) Anglo-Latin also had the variant [[m|la-med|severālis]].^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) It is related to [[separate]].^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD 2000)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ “A number of, some”, in the form ''saverale'', probably about 1421, and “separate, individual” in 1422.^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline gives the early 15th century for the sense “existing apart, independent”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The first senses stressed separateness: of a person or thing, “standing apart, distinct”, a sense obsolete since the 18th century.^(SOED 2002)^(Etymonline) In law ''several'' meant “belonging to each individual separately, not held in common” from the 1420s,^(HTOED)^(Barnhart 1988) and since about 1500 it has meant “various, different”, as in ''went their several ways''.^(Etymonline) Etymonline says the modern sense “more than one” grew out of the legal uses in the 1530s,^(Etymonline) and by the mid-17th century the word was a vague numeral with no idea of difference left in it.^(Etymonline) The pronoun is from 1639.^(MW Collegiate) Herrick wrote in 1648 that dreams hurl each one “into a sev'rall world”.^(Etymonline) A rare verb meant “to enclose (common land) as private property” from the late 15th to the late 18th century.^(SOED 2002) The jocular ordinal ''severalth'' is American and dates from 1902.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1421 – a number of, some.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1422 – separate, individual.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1500 – various, different.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1530s – more than one.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1532 – legal sense, pertaining to each individual.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1639 – pronoun.^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1902 – ''severalth''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # More than two or three but not many.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Separate, [[distinct]], individual.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Respectively different; [[various]]: ''went their several ways''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(law)'' Binding or concerning each party separately, as in ''joint and several''.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # An indefinite small number of people or things; a few.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[severally]]

+ * [[severalfold]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[separate]]

+ * [[sever]]

+ * [[severalty]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}