I used the word bolving in a post the other day, to mean the enormous booming sound that a stag makes when he is showing his prowess during mating season; it can also be called roaring (makes sense) troating (from throating?) or belling,,,
Someone asked where bolving comes from, and after extensive research (trawling the internet and looking in actual dictionaries) the only thing I can come up with in this context is that it is a local dialect word of uncertain origin – local to Devon and Exmoor in particular.
There is only one place I can find beginning with Bolve- and that’s Bolventor in Cornwall; Bolventor is a tin mining area on Bodmin Moor, and the ‘Bol’ part of its name is a common Cornish prefix for names. The -ventor part might come from the word ‘adventure’ describing the local tin prospecting and mining in the eighteenth century. Bolventor has found international fame because nearby is Jamaica Inn, which Daphne du Maurier wrote about in her famous novel of that name.
It seems though, that although bolving sounds like part of a verb, there actually is no verb ‘to bolve’ and it only occurs as ‘bolving’. However since the Exmoor Bolvng Competitions (where people try to imitate stags and get a reply from them) the word has been used in the press as a an actual verb.There have been tantalizing glimpses of the word used in scientific and ICT papers – some of these Google glimpses are misreading of ‘solving’ but some do seem to say bolving… although the papers are all so long that I have yet to trawl through them properly… if I have the time… or the inclination!
So… bolving, derivation unknown but possibly Bol+venture= area that bolving was coined, but the long and the short of it is that it means the mating call of a deer… in Devon!
Lois Elsden 
Hi Lois
I emailed you last week about taking part in a round the world blog hop. I’m not sure if you got the email (I used the address on your gravatar).
I’m preparing my post and just wondering if you want to take part, I don’t want to put you down without your permission. Please let me know asap. Thanks Deb
Love the image of the tree, the word sounds to me as if it should have something to do with trees somehow. When I saw the image I thought it had been “bolved”!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi deb, sorry no, I didn’t get your email… but the blog hops sounds great! yes I’d love to take part – let me know what I have to do and how!
Best wishes, lois
LikeLike
Great, thanks. Is there a way to send it, without putting all the instructions out for eveyone looking at your comments to see them?
LikeLike
Yes, Deb, send it to my hotmail address which is Lois Sparshott – all lower case with no spaces, and it’s dot com!
LikeLike
Hi Lois Have you had the email yet?Deb
LikeLike
Hi Deb! yes thanks, i saw it just before I went out… I’ll go and read it again and reply!
LikeLike
Nearly finished my post just struggling with the links.thanks for letting me know deb
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, this was certainly unexpected and fascinating. It’s amazing how many words we might never know, hear or read except by coming across a posting like this. Some of those Cornish and West Country words are so unusual. Excellent posting and beautiful picture as well.
LikeLike
Thank you Mary!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t get your’s and Jean Pierre url to highlight and open in a new window. I have had this problem before. I don’t think I’ve done anything differently to the way I did Alex’s. I’ll try again tomorrow. Frustrated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Grrr! Good luck, I’m afraid I can’t help you at all… it’s all a mystery to me! Hope you manage to sort it out!
LikeLike