The story
- Latin · derived frompraevaleō“be very able or more able, be superior, prevail”
- Old French · derived fromprevaler
- Middle English · inherited fromprevailen
- English todayprevail
From Middle English prevailen, from Old French prevaler, from Latin praevaleō (“be very able or more able, be superior, prevail”), from prae (“before”) + valeō (“be able or powerful”). Displaced native Old English rīcsian.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.