[bnegreve]

I am not a native speaker, but my feeling is that several can also be used to insist on non-uniqueness. E.g. "Most rich families own several cars" or "Jupiter has several moons" (= not one). I'm surprised that it is not mentioned in the article.

[rawling]

It is.

> Several came into English in the 1400s, but didn't develop its quantity meanings until the 1500s. (Several initially meant "distinct or separate" in English.) Yes, meanings: several originally referred to more than one.

>> They be but one heire, and yet severall persons. — Edward Coke, _The first part of the institutes of the lawes of England _, 1628

It even mentions Jupiter's moons later!

[bnegreve]

Oh, indeed it is mentioned, i overlooked this part.

> It even mentions Jupiter's moons later

It is not a coincidence, I reused the example to illustrate my point.

[robin_reala]

Jupiter has 95+ moons, which is stretching the definition of “several”.