droughte

Alternative forms

droghte, droȝte, drought, drougthe, drouȝte, drouȝþe, drouht, drouthe, drouþe, drowghte, drowþe
drugte, druhhþe (Early Middle English); drouȝth, droute, drowte, drowyth (Late Middle English)
droȝt, droȝþe (Cheshire, Staffordshire); druȝþe (Kent); drouhþe (Worcestershire); drught (Yorkshire)

Etymology

From the oblique forms of Old English drūgaþ (and the variant drūgaþe), from dryġe (“dry”); equivalent to drye +‎ -the (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Middle Dutch drôochte, Middle Low German drö̂gede.

Notes on phonological development (compare douthe and youthe, which this word's development closely parallels)

Forms with /xt/ and /xθ/ result from early syncope in the Old English nominative singular drūgaþ, then levelling of the resulting consonantism to the oblique forms, while forms with /ð/ reflect either later syncope or the consonantism of the oblique forms (from Old English [ɣð]). Finally, forms in /θ/ represent either loss of /x/ or final devoicing of /ð/. Shortening of the long vowel was regular in all variants of this word in Late Old English, either due to the trisyllabicity of inflected forms or because of the following consonant cluster; variants with a long vowel can represent either development of /uɣ/ to /uː/ or lengthening before /x/. In some varieties of Middle English, /u/ was apparently lowered before /x/; standard English does not continue such forms, but they underlie Scots drocht.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈdruxt(ə)/, /ˈdruːxt(ə)/, /ˈdruxθ(ə)/, /ˈdruːð(ə)/, /ˈdruːθ(ə)/
IPA^(key): /ˈdrɔxt(ə)/, /ˈdrɔu̯xt(ə)/, /-θ(ə)/ (with lowering)

Noun

droughte (uncountable)

Drought; an absence of rain.
- 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “Here Bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunt́burẏ”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published [c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 2, recto:
  Whan that Auerill w^t his shoures soote / The droghte of march hath ꝑced to the roote / And bathed euery veyne in swich lycour / Of which v̄tu engendred is the flour […]
  When that April, with its sweet showers / Has pierced March's drought to the root / And bathed every vein in fluid such that / with its power, the flower is made […]
Aridity; an absence of water.
Inherent "dryness" (according to the medieval worldview).
(rare) Thirstiness; a bodily need of water.

Descendants

English: drought (dialectal or obsolete drouth, druft)
Scots: drocht, drouth

References

“drǒught(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.