'Nominal' traces to PIE *h1nomn — the same root behind 'name,' 'noun,' and 'nomenclature.'
Existing in name only; relating to or consisting of names; (of a price or amount) very small, far below the real value; in grammar, relating to a noun or nouns.
From Latin 'nominalis' (of or pertaining to a name, grammatical), derived from 'nomen' (name, noun, reputation), tracing to PIE *h1nomn (name) — one of the most firmly reconstructed roots in Indo-European linguistics, present in virtually every branch of the family. The same root gave Greek 'onoma/onuma' (name), Sanskrit 'naman' (name), Old English 'nama' (name), Russian 'imya' (name), and Armenian 'anun' (name). The Latin 'nomen' also produced 'nominate' (to name for a position), 'nomenclature' (a system of naming), 'noun' (via Old French 'nom'), and 'renown' (being
In NASA mission control, 'nominal' means 'everything is working as expected' — the opposite of its everyday English sense of 'insignificant.' When Houston says 'all systems nominal,' they mean the spacecraft is performing exactly as designed, not that it barely qualifies as a spacecraft.