Paravail

Below; inferior. Burrill derives the word from the French par, by, and avaler, to descend,, to be under; and contrasts it in etymology as well as in conventional meaning with its correlative paramount, q. v. Lord Coke and other ancient writers think that the last or lowest tenant was called the tenant ^ar avails, — that is, by the avayls, avails, or profits, — because he was the one who made the land profitable to himself and to the lords above him. We prefer Burrill's suggestion; but the conflict is a good example of the delusiveness of the system of etymological derivations. Whatever the origin of the term, it was applied to either the holder or the title.