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The etymology, according to the OED:

Apparently cognate with Old Saxon drano, dran (with uncertain vowel length: see note) ( Middle Low German drāne, drōne ; German regional (Low German) drāne, drōne ; > German Drohne ) and probably also with Old Saxon dreno , Old High German treno, tren ( Middle High German tren , all with short vowel), all in the sense ‘drone bee’, further etymology uncertain, probably ultimately < a Germanic verbal base for making a kind of loud, continuous sound (compare droun v. ); the noun was apparently formed from this verbal base with reference to the loud buzzing sound made by bees and similar insects, perhaps sometimes specifically with reference to the males of some species buzzing aggressively when the hive is disturbed.

The semantic drift:

From Old English — Sense 1. A male bee in a colony of honeybees or other social bees (more fully drone bee ). Sometimes also: the male of a social wasp or ant.

The drone is produced from an unfertilized egg.…