Accuse
Middle English: from Old French acuser, from Latin accusare ‘call to account’, from ad- ‘towards’ + causa ‘reason, motive, lawsuit’.
wiktionary
First attested around 1300. From Middle English acusen, from Old French acuser, from Latin accūsō(“to call to account, accuse”), from ad(“to”) + causa(“cause, lawsuit, reason”). Akin to cause. Displaced native English bewray.
etymonline
accuse (v.)
c. 1300, "charge (with an offense, fault, error, etc.), impugn, blame," from Old French acuser "to accuse, indict, reproach, blame" (13c., Modern French accuser), earlier "announce, report, disclose" (12c.), or directly from Latin accusare "to call to account, make complaint against, reproach, blame; bring to trial, prosecute, arraign indict," from ad causa, from ad "with regard to" (see ad-) + causa "a cause; a lawsuit" (see cause (n.)). "Accuse commonly, though not invariably, expresses something more formal and grave than charge" [Century Dictionary, 1902]. Related: Accused; accusing; accusingly.
