I encountered this word in a crossword that was using *dotier” indicating weakening or increasingly rotting wood. Also came across one place online that said “dote” was about wood. But I cannot find any entomological information about it, even in online dictionaries. Any ideas and information would be very welcome, thanks!
A honest crossword puzzle shouldn’t cheat like that by using long since forgotten words like “doty”, less than ever in an inflected form! 
Both Merriam-Webster and OED agree about the meaning you mention (rotting / waterlogged wood) and mention a secondary one (gone nuts due to old age), OED points out that “This word is now obsolete. It is only recorded in the Middle English period (1150—1500)”, but neither dares propose a decent etymology.
I might add that in German dotieren (imperative: dotier) means “to dope an intrinsic semiconductor” (to add a minimal controlled amount of impurity to it), but I seriously doubt that there’s any reasonable connection to the English adjective.
Are you really interested in the insects that usually thrive in decaying wood, or did you just mean “etymological”? 
1 Like
Thank you for your nice response, which mirrors mine.
I really did not intend to be buggy about wood, but here is a good example of voice to text pretending to be me while out to get me. No wonder I’m paranoid. Or dot(t)y.
Don’t worry, we’re all a bit nutty - the wisest ones being those who manage to conceal it best 
The OED has an attestation of “doty” from 2006, so it can’t be quite obsolete.
Well, I used “doty” myself in my reply a few days ago. Last month I also used a swan quill (duly cut and hardened) to forge a medieval document for a friendly prank, and still I don’t think that it entitles me to claim that quills were in use up to AD2024…
To be pedantic, you mentioned it rather than using it. Mentions alone are not enough to save a word from obsolescence, but as long as people are using it, then it is still a part of the living language.
You’re right, I just mentioned it, not used it in its proper context. Guilty as charged, Your Honor
Yet, as in the case of my quill, there’s a hardly deniable difference between common use and occasional or even very sporadic use.
Poets may unearth long forgotten words because they rhyme alright and fit well in the metre, politicians may do the same to round up their verbiage without saying anything sensible, lawyers may do it to avoid the risk of being too explicit – but that will do very little to bring back to life those rusty words.
What if I told you of the apricity I enjoyed last week when finally the sun showed up after four days of leaden freezing cold? Would it be enough to blow off 400 years of dust?