The quality or state of being sulky, bad-tempered, or morose; a tendency toward irritable or gloomy behavior.
From 'dorty' (dialectal/Scottish for sulky or bad-tempered) + '-ness' suffix forming abstract nouns. The root 'dorty' may derive from Scottish or Northern English dialect, possibly related to 'dour.' The suffix '-ness' comes from Old English and is used to create nouns expressing states or qualities.
This word is a time capsule of Scottish dialect—it survived in regional speech when similar words disappeared from standard English, showing how local languages preserve emotions and personality traits that formal speech struggles to express concisely.
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