In an earlier post (April 16, 2013), the contemporary substitution of multiple for many was attributed to iconicity. However, on second thought, there is an alternate explanation.
Multiple may have arisen as a designator of number because it is non-committal as to whether it means ‘many’ or ‘several’. This new meaning––something between the two––evidently fits a semantic niche that speakers and writers wish to exploit when neither many nor several fills the bill. This new connotation of multiple is: ‘not as few in number as several and not as great as many’.
MICHAEL SHAPIRO
Interesting. How about “a few”?
“A few” means just that, viz. some, not many, so there’s nothing to say about this locution.
Following up on my earlier comment, it just came to mind that “a few” is used to mean both “not many” and “many”. Example: “quite a few”.
What do you make of this?
“Quite a few” has a meaning that is the cumulative result of prefixing “quite” to “a few.” This does not change the meaning of “few.” “Quite” increases the meaning of “few” but not by much, you’ll agree.