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Phrase(s): hark(en) back to something
1. to have originated as something; to have started out as something. (Harken is an older word meaning "pay heed to.") • The word icebox harks back to refrigerators that were cooled by ice. • Our modern breakfast cereals hark back to the porridge and gruel of our ancestors. 2. to remind one of something. • Seeing a horse and buggy in the park harks back to the time when horses drew milk wagons. • Sally says it harkens back to the time when everything was delivered by horse-drawn wagons.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs