different between menial vs servitor

English

Etymology

From Middle English meinial, from Anglo-Norman mesnal, from maisnee (“household”), from Vulgar Latin mansionata, from Latin mansi?nem, accusative singular of mansi? (“house”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?'n??l, IPA^(key): /?mi?ni.?l/

Adjective

menial (comparative more menial, superlative most menial)

1. Of or relating to work normally performed by a servant.
2. Of or relating to unskilled work.
3. Servile; low; mean.

   a menial wretch

Translations

Noun

menial (plural menials)

1. A servant, especially a domestic servant.
2. A person who has a subservient nature.

Related terms

• mansion
• maison, maisonette
• menage

Translations

Anagrams

• Elamin, Melian

English

Etymology

From Middle English servitour, borrowed from Latin serv?tor, from serv?re, present active infinitive of servi? (“I serve”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s??.v?.t??/, /?s??.v?.t??/
• AHD: /sûr'v?-tôr'/

Noun

servitor (plural servitors)

1. One who performs the duties of a servant.
   • 1927, The Saturday Evening Post (volume 200, page 150)

     He heard Rogers' voice raised in the reception room; he stepped to the doorway and saw his servitor arguing with an elderly and trampish man who had got in somehow.

2. One who serves in an army; a soldier.
3. (historical) An undergraduate who performed menial duties in exchange for financial support from his college, particularly at Oxford University.

Quotations

• 1884, W.S. Gilbert, Princess Ida

  "You'll find no sizars here, or servitors/or other cruel distinctions meant to draw/a line 'twixt rich and poor"

• 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 22

  The servitors waxed silent, each lost in introspection, until the rattle of the Valmouth cab announced the expected guest.

Anagrams

• overstir

Latin

Etymology

From servus (“slave”) +? -tor

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ser?u?i?.tor/, [s??r?u?i?t??r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ser?vi.tor/, [s?r?vi?t??r]

Noun

serv?tor m (genitive serv?t?ris); third declension

1. a servant, a servitor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Descendants

References

• servitor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• servitor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French serviteur, Italian servitore, Latin serv?tor, equivalent to servi +? -tor.

Noun

servitor m (plural servitori, feminine equivalent servitoare)

1. servant, attendant, domestic, retainer, manservant

Synonyms

• slug?