hearken

Etymology

From Middle English herkenen (“to listen (attentively); to pay attention, take heed”) [and other forms], from Old English hercnian, heorcnian, hyrcnian, from *heorcian (“to hark”) infixed with -n-, from Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną (“to hear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti (“to be sharp-eared, hear well”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + *h₂ṓws (“ear”) + *-yéti (denominative suffix). The spelling of the English word was probably influenced by hear, and can be analysed as hark + -en.

verb

1. (transitive, archaic except poetic) To hear (something) with attention; to have regard to (something).
   With pleaſure he hearkens the heart-ſoothing chear / Shakes Morpheus and ſlumber away; / While joyful he ſtarts, and with ſpeed doth appear / The foremoſt to welcome the day. 1785, “Hunting Songs and Cantatas”, in The Humming Bird: Or, A Compleat Collection of the Most Esteemed Songs.[…], 3rd edition, Canterbury, Kent: Printed and sold by Simmons and Kirkby; London: J[oseph] Johnson,[…], →OCLC, number 50, page 17, column 2
   And now a sweet bird calls its scattered mates, / And gaily hearkens the unburdened heart. 18 December 1869, “A Storm”, in William, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, number 312 (Fourth Series), London, Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, →OCLC, page 816, column 2
2. (intransitive) To listen; to attend or give heed to what is uttered; to hear with attention, compliance, or obedience.
   When ſhe [voluptuousness] ſpreadeth her delicacies on the table, when her wine ſparkleth in the cup, when ſhe ſmileth upon thee, and perſuadeth thee to be joyful and happy; then is the hour of danger, and let reaſon ſtand firmly on her guard: for, if thou hearkeneſt unto the words of her adverſary, thou art deceived and betrayed. 1750 November, “Maxims for the Conduct of Life”, in The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure:[…], volume VII, number XLVIII, London: Published […] by John Hinton,[…], →OCLC, page 224, column 1
   How, then, am I mad? Harken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story. 1843 January, Edgar A[llan] Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, in J[ames] Russell Lowell, R[obert] Carter, editors, The Pioneer. A Literary and Critical Magazine, volume I, number I, Boston, Mass.: Leland and Whiting,[…], →OCLC, page 29, column 1
   Thou who art of all things Lord, / Well I know, in Galilee, / Hearkenedst to Thy mother's word, / Teach me such a child to be. 1844, [Helen Taylor], “Monday”, in The Child’s Book of Homilies.[…], London: Edwards and Hughes,[…]; Hatchard and Son,[…], →OCLC, part II (Homilies for the Week), page 70
   You do not, in short, speak in order to encourage others to speak freely but in order to discourage others from disseminating or hearkening to error. You do not seek to enfranchise the community but to bind it to the truths you take to be salutary. 1999, Stanley Fish, “Fraught with Death”, in The Trouble with Principle, Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, page 93
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To enquire; to seek information.