Reproval comes from reprove + -al; reprove from Old French reprover, from Late Latin reprobare ('to disapprove'), from re- ('opposite') + probare ('to approve'). The historical chain includes Latin reprobare and Latin probare. The quoted older senses, "to disapprove", "opposite", and "to approve", supply the semantic anchors for reproval. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, and borrowed: the word reproval carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "an expression of blame or disapproval". Related English forms include reprove and reproof. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.