_Culprit, Origin of the Word._--Long ago I made this note, that this much
used English word was of French extraction, and that it was "_qu'il
paruit_," from the short way the clerk of the court has of pronouncing his
words; for our pleadings were formerly in French, and when the pleadings
were begun, he said to the defendant "_qu'il parait_"--culprit; and as he
was generally culpable, the "_qu'il parait_" became a synonyme with
offender.