Answer: minimal importance or significance; king by technical title only
Explanation:
This sentence, taken out of context as it appears here, may be just an example sentence by itself used only for the purpose of word assessment. However, it may help to better explain this answer with a bit of historical background, since there actually was a kingdom of Benin in West Africa (around Nigeria) a long time ago, existing in about the 1300's to the late 1800's. It’s also important to supply this part of the answer in case this question may be from a larger passage you were reading about this topic that accompanied where you originally came across this question.
In Benin’s system of government, the royalty included a hierarchy of officials called chiefs and elders. They were the main ones who helped the king run his kingdom. The chiefs were an assembly of advisors for each district. The elders were selected from the village and were usually men who already lived in those villages. These were the officials who dealt most directly with the village people who were the king’s subjects. They delivered the people proposals and other orders from the higher leadership/the king. They also enforced those orders at the lowest levels of the common people, since they interacted among them the most.
So, with this background information now in mind, let’s take a closer look at the word nominal. The word itself usually has two main meanings. The one we hear used most often today is in measurement terms. For example, businesses might offer a service for a “nominal” fee. In terms of quantity, nominal means very low, so small that its value may be almost insignificant. The other meaning of nominal: by title only. For example, we can say that someone is in a named position only technically speaking, because they are named to be in that formal or official position as a holder of it just by title. The word nominal itself actually comes from “name” in the Latin origin nominalis/nomen.
Either one of these meanings of nominal could apply here in this case, given the context of the sentence. This is because the statement being made is an opinion, which could be pointing out a viewpoint that the government was a system in which the king was merely a figurehead by name or title only. It could also be saying that the king was nominal in importance, due to the fact that his officials were seen here as the only active ones carrying out the real, actual direct duties dealing with the villagers. So, perhaps the voice making the statement is among the villagers looking at the king’s position in that manner, deeming him less significant than his officials who seem more powerful. The fact that the king’s officials dealt with the people at more of a face-to-face level could have made them more intimidating or powerful to the village people.
