Origins
The word 'menu' entered English from French in the early nineteenth century, and its etymology reveals that a menu is, at its root, a 'small' or 'detailed' thing.βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ French 'menu' functions both as an adjective meaning 'small, fine, detailed, minute' and as a noun meaning 'a detailed list.' The culinary sense arose as a shortening of 'menu de repas' β 'the detailed list of the meal' β the itemized card listing each dish available.
The French adjective 'menu' descends from Latin 'minΕ«tus,' the past participle of 'minuere' (to make smaller, to lessen, to diminish). Latin 'minuere' comes from PIE *mei- (small), one of the most productive roots in the Indo-European family. The reflexes of *mei- in English alone are remarkable: 'minute' (both the time unit β a 'small' part of an hour β and the adjective meaning 'tiny'), 'minor,' 'minus,' 'minimum,' 'diminish' (from Latin 'dΔminuere'), 'mince' (to cut small), 'minister' (literally 'lesser, servant' β the opposite of 'magister,' master), 'minuet' (a dance with 'small' steps), and 'minestrone' (Italian soup made from 'small' cut vegetables).
The printed menu as a physical object is a relatively modern invention. In medieval and early modern European dining, meals were served 'Γ la franΓ§aise' β all dishes for a course were placed on the table simultaneously, and diners helped themselves. There was no need for a list of choices because there was no choice: you ate what was put before you. The 'service Γ la russe' (Russian-style service), which introduced sequential courses brought to individual diners, spread through Western Europe in the early nineteenth century and created the practical need for a printed card listing the available dishes in order.
Development
The earliest printed menus in Europe date to the eighteenth century and were associated with the rise of the Parisian restaurant (itself a new institution β see 'restaurant'). By the 1830s, the word 'menu' had entered English, displacing earlier terms like 'bill of fare.'
The computing sense of 'menu' β a list of options presented to a user β dates to the 1960s, when early interactive computer systems needed a metaphor for the concept of 'a list of choices.' The food-service metaphor was natural: just as a restaurant menu presents options from which you select, a computer menu presents commands or actions from which you choose. The metaphor was extended further with 'drop-down menu,' 'pop-up menu,' 'hamburger menu' (the three-line icon), and 'context menu.'
The word's journey from PIE *mei- (small) through Latin 'minΕ«tus' (made small) to French 'menu' (small, detailed) to English 'menu' (a list of choices) illustrates how abstract spatial concepts β in this case, smallness β can evolve through metaphorical extension into entirely different semantic domains. The connection between 'small' and 'detailed' is the pivot: a detailed list is one broken into small, specific items rather than vague generalities. From there, the jump to 'a list of specific dishes' and then 'a list of specific options in any domain' follows naturally.