cavil

cavil [ˈkævəl] v. i.

1.) To find fault unnecessarily; raise trivial objections.

cavil v. t.

1.) To quibble about; detect petty flaws in.

cavil n.

1.) A carping or trivial objection (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

Etymology: French caviller, from Old French, from Latin cavillari, to jeer, from cavilla, a jeering.

"Inexplicable
Thy Justice seems; yet to say truth, too late,
I thus contest; then should have been refusd
Those terms whatever, when they were propos'd:
Thou didst accept them; wilt thou enjoy the good,
Then cavil the conditions?" (Paradise Lost, John Milton, 1667).

(The Temptation and Fall of Eve, William Blake, 1808)