Hello,

Dote is one of those words where you really need the context to understand the meaning. For example, if an Irish person tells you that you’re a dote, please take the compliment. In Hiberno-English it means you are sweet or adorable. It could be used for a small child, or of a close friend, somebody you truly care for in life.

A related use of the word is when we say that somebody doted on somebody or something. Such as, our neighbour has a new puppy from the animal rescue shelter and is doting on him, lavishing him with love and toys. This use of the word to show excessive love or infatuation dates to the late 1400s.

There’s a much older meaning, which persists in usage, and relates to impaired cognition in old age. The verb to dote arrived into the English language (spelled doten) around 1200 and it meant to behave irrationally, do foolish things, possibly thanks to advanced age. While the exact linking word is not recorded sources suggest it had arrived from Middle Dutch doten (foolish). My mother-in-law would use the expression “he’s doting” to indicate that somebody has some mental slippage due to age and that’s where is comes from.

This meaning of doting may be related to Dutch dutten (to nap) and Icelandic dotta (to nod, to sleep), perhaps saying the brain has become sleepy? Or referring to the way many of us can be confused mentally when we wake from a nap. There was also a use of dote as a noun, in the 1100s for somebody who was a fool or senile, but that has faded from use during the intervening centuries, so nowadays if you’re called a dote, particularly in Ireland, it’s a good thing.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

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