An attempt at humor was newly doted

Finding little on the wheres and whyfores of using "on" after "dote." This word just can't seem to stand alone! However, I did find a few other interesting tidbits about the origins of this word.

"Dote," meaning "to be infatuated with" or "to be excessively fond of" came into its modern usage in the 15th century. It originates from the Middle Low German or Dutch "doten" meaning "to be silly or foolish." Another lesser-known meaning of "dote" is "to be feeble-minded" as from age. This amuses me because I am not used to hearing "dote" in a negative light. For me, it has always had a positive connotation.

On a random side note, the word "dote" also sounds very similar to "DotA" which is an acronym for World of Warcraft's Defense of the Ancients. DotA also features prominently in a very addictive song by Basshunter about using Ventrilo while playing WoW - yes, someone actually wrote a song about that. It's entitled "Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA" (the song's in Swedish).