An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/hören

by Friedrich Kluge

hören, vb., ‘to hear, give ear to, listen,’ from the equiv. MidHG. hœren, OHG. hôren; common Teut. hauzjan, ‘to hear’; comp. Goth. hœusjan, OIc. heyra, AS. hŷran, hêran, E. to hear, Du. hooren, OLG. hôrian (comp. also the derivative horchen); Teut. root hauz, from pre-Teut. kous, to which is allied Gr. ἀκούω (for *α-κούσjω?; Hesychius, κοᾷ ἀκούει). - The latter is probably connected with the Aryan stem of Ohr (cus), just as Lat. audire stands for *aus-dire (comp. auscultare); in that case the Teut. guttural h, Gr. ἀκ, would be the remnant of a prefix. A more widely diffused stem for hören is OTeut. hlus and klu, from Pre-Teut. klus and klu, which, however, is nearly obsolete in Teut.; comp. laut, lauschen, laustern. Der. gehorsam, from MidHG. and OHG. gehôrsam (AS. gehŷrsum), ‘obedient.’