rodomontade

English

WOTD – 2 November 2006

Alternative forms

• rhodomontade (dated)

Etymology

From French rodomontade, a reference to Rodomonte, a boastful character in the Italian Renaissance epic poems Orlando innamorato (1483) and its sequel Orlando furioso (1506–1532). Doublet of rodomontado.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɒ.də.mɒnˈtɑːd/, /ˌɹɒ.də.mɒnˈteɪd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɑ.də.mənˈteɪd/, /ˌɹɑ.dəˌmɑnˈteɪd/, /ˌɹɑ.də.mənˈtɑd/, /ˌɹɑ.dəˌmɑnˈtɑd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

rodomontade (countable and uncountable, plural rodomontades)

1. Vain boasting; a rant; pretentious behaviour.
   • 1652, Thomas Urquhart, “Εκσκυβαλαυρον (The Jewel)”, in The Works of Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, Knight‎^[1], Edinburgh: Thomas Maitland Dundrennan, published 1834, →ISBN, page 217:

     […] the Gasconads of France, Rodomontads of Spain, Fanfaronads of Italy, and Bragadochio brags of all other countries, could no more astonish his invincible heart, then would the cheeping of a mouse a bear robbed of her whelps.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “The Narrow Escape of Molly Seagrim, with Some Observations for Which We Have Been Forced to Dive Pretty Deep into Nature”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV, pages 79–80:

     Indeed, there is much Reaſon to imagine, that there was not the leaſt Truth in what Mr. Weſtern affirmed, eſpecially as he laid the Scene of thoſe Impurities at the Univerſity, where Mr. Allworthy had never been. In fact, the good Squire was a little too apt to indulge that Kind of Pleaſantry which is generally called Rodomontade; but which may, with as much Propriety, be expreſſed by a much ſhorter Word; […]

   • 1822, William Hazlitt, “Essay VIII. On Familiar Style.”, in Table-Talk; or, Original Essays, volume II, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Henry Colburn and Co., →OCLC, page 194:

     Not a glimpse can you get of the merits or defects of the performers: they are hidden in a profusion of barbarous epithets and wilful rhodomontade.

   • 1844 August, Fitz-Boodle [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Barry Provides for His Family and Attains the Height of His Luck”, in “The Luck of Barry Lyndon; A Romance of the Last Century”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XXX, number CLXXVI, London: G[eorge] W[illiam] Nickisson, page 235, column 1:

     Many of her ladyship’s letters were the most whimsical rhodomontades that ever blue-stocking penned.

   • 1855–1856, Richard F[rancis] Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 67:

     He talks of her abroad as a stern and rigid master dealing with a naughty slave, though, by the look that accompanies his rhodomontade, I am convinced that at home he is the very model of "managed men."

   • 1873–1884 (date written), Samuel Butler, chapter XLVI, in R[ichard] A[lexander] Streatfeild, editor, The Way of All Flesh, London: Grant Richards, published 1903, →OCLC, page 207:

     […] Euripides accuses Æschylus of being ‘pomp-bundle-worded,’ which I suppose means bombastic and given to rodomontade […]

   • 1964, Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, page 46:

     Bragging was the vice that was Eichmann's undoing. It was sheer rodomontade when he told his men during the last days of the war: “I will jump into my grave laughing, because the fact that I have the death of five million Jews [or “enemies of the Reich,” as he always claimed to have said]^[sic] on my conscience gives me extraordinary satisfaction.”

Translations

vain boasting

• Bulgarian: самохвалство (bg) n (samohvalstvo)
• French: rodomontade (fr) f
• Irish: radamandádaíocht f
• Italian: rodomontata f
• Portuguese: fafarrice f
• Russian: бахва́льство (ru) n (baxválʹstvo)

Adjective

rodomontade (comparative more rodomontade, superlative most rodomontade)

1. Pretentiously boastful.

Verb

rodomontade (third-person singular simple present rodomontades, present participle rodomontading, simple past and past participle rodomontaded)

1. (archaic) To boast, brag or bluster pretentiously.

Further reading

• “rodomontade”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Rodomontade”, in World Wide Words.
• rodomontade on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From rodomont +‎ -ade.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɔ.dɔ.mɔ̃.tad/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Noun

rodomontade f (plural rodomontades)

1. rodomontade (pretentious behaviour; boasting)
   • 2019, Alain Damasio, chapter 1, in Les furtifs [The Stealthies], La Volte, →ISBN:

     Vous avez même pensé le dominer avec vos sarcasmes, vos rodomontades de gros bras, votre ironie jeune, votre supériorité au triple saut ou à la course.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• → English: rodomontade

Further reading

• “rodomontade”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.