An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Drohne

by Friedrich Kluge

Drohne, feminine, ‘drone.’ The strict High German form is Trehne, Trene (so still in Saxony and Austria), according to Middle High German trëne, trën, Old High German trëno, masculine Drohne is a Low German form derived from Saxon drân, plural drâni, to which Anglo-Saxon drân, plural drœ̂n, English drone, correspond; both point to Gothic *drainus, *drênus, while Old High German trëno assumes perhaps Gothic *drina; the relation between the theoretical Gothic forms has not yet been definitely fixed. The base drē̆n seems to appear in dröhnen (Gothic drunjus, ‘loud sound’). From the same root probably a Greek term for ‘bee’ is formed — τεμθρήνη, ‘a sort of wasp or humble-bee' (also ἀνθρήνη, ‘wild bee’? — compare too τενθρηδών, ανθρηδών), also Lacon. θρώναξ, ‘drone.’ Biene, like Drohne, is a primitively Teutonic term. See the following word.