Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ME'NI-AL, a. [Norm. meignal, meynal, from meignee or meiny, a family. The Norm. has also mesnie and mesnee, a family, household or company, and meinez, many. Qu. the root of maison, messuage, or of many.]

1. Pertaining to servants, or domestic servants; low; mean. The women attendants perform only the most menial offices. Swift. [Johnson observes on this passage, that Swift seems not to have known the meaning of this word. But this is the only sense in which it is now used.]
2. Belonging to the retinue or train of servants. Johnson. Two menial dogs before their master pressed. Dryden. [If this definition of Johnson is correct, it indicates that menial is from meinez, many, rather than from mesnie, family. But the sense may be house-dogs.]