Words we use: Dote

That charming verb dote is defined by Oxford as "To be infatuatedly fond of; to bestow excessive love or fondness on or upon; to be foolishly in love." In 1477, Earl Rivers' (Caxton) Dictes has "Thyngis that a prynce ought to eschewe . . . the therde, dotyng of women." In 1530, Palsgrave declared, "It is a gret madnesse to dote upon an other mans wyfe."

In 1589, Warner's Albion's England has "Not one but wexed amorous, yea euen Diana doted." In 1591, Shakespeare, in Two Gentlemen of Verona has "You doate on her, that cares not for your love."

In 1623, that splendid playwright Philip Massinger, in The Duke of Millaine , has "A fine she-waiter . . . that doted Extremely of a gentleman." In 1742, the polemicist Arthur Young wrote, "How distant oft the thing we doat on most, From that for which we doat, Felicity!" In 1837, Howitt, in Rural Life , sobs, "Where lies the mother on whom I doated, and who doated on me?"

I mention the word because, according to a recent survey, the word was not known to a large number of schoolchildren in the English midlands. Hard to believe.

Dote has other meanings that are unknown in Ireland, as far as I know.

It can mean a portion: a specified share in, let's say, a bog, or commonage. In Cumberland, a dote is a stone fence made and repaired by various people with common rights. The verb dote means to endow: "He was not doted with brains."

The noun dote is a dowry, a marriage portion in Aberdeen and in Perth, both in Scotland, from where a correspondent sent the English Dialect Dictionary , "John's nae rough, but the dote he'll get alang wi' Mary'll help him." In Leicestershire and in Shakespeare's Warwickshire, the verb means to set one's hopes on something; to be overly sanguine: "I hope my husband will succeed, but I mustn't dote on it."

The verb dote , meaning to decay or rot, especially of wood, is in general dialect use in England, and, according to the English Dialect Dictionary, in Ireland and in the US. Hence doted and doty : decayed, mouldy, rotten. According to Kersey in 1702, a doting tree is one that is almost worn out with age.

As regards the word's origin, it comes from Early Middle English doten, dotien – of which no trace is known in Old English – corresponds to Middle Dutch doten : to be crazy or silly, to dote. Compare the modern Dutch dutten , to take a nap, to dote, the Middle High German totzen , to take a nap (from unattested * dottôjan ) and the Icelandic dotta , to nod from sleep.

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