'darken' originates from Old English, specifically the word 'deorcian' (from 'deorc'), where 'deorc' meant 'dark' and the suffix '-en' meant 'to make or become'.

'darken' changed from Old English 'deorcian' through Middle English forms such as 'derken'/'darken' and eventually became the modern English word 'darken'.

Initially, it meant 'to make dark' in a literal sense, and over time it has largely retained that core meaning while extending to figurative senses like 'to make gloomy' or 'to obscure'.