Sunday, July 8, 2012

rodomontade



rodomontade [ˌrɒdəmɒnˈteɪd] n. Also rodomantade, rhodomontade, rhodomantade.

1.) A vainglorious brag or boast; an extravagantly boastful or arrogant saying or speech; an arrogant act.

2.) Boastful or inflated language; extravagant boasting or bragging (O.E.D. 2nd Ed.).

Etymology: French, from Italian rodomontada, from Rodomonte, arrogant Saracen leader in Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Boiardo and Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto.

"Cato himself says, that he took more cities than he stayed days in Spain. Neither is this a mere rhodomontade, if it be true, that the number was four hundred" (Plutarch's Lives Translated From the Greek by Several Hands, John Dryden (trans.), 1683).


(The Artist Moved by the Grandeur of Antique Fragments, Henry Fuseli, 1779)

7 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I'll try to work this into my next diatribe, thanks!

Jenny Woolf said...

This is genuinely new to me, not many words are. And what a splendid word it is. Very Elizabethan somehow, although if your quote is a first usage, it is somewhat after that period.

Meri said...

huh. this would be a fun one to use.

D4 said...

Ooo I like this one. Better than using multiple words in so many shapes. I wonder if I'll remember it long enough to use it.

Big v said...

This one is an instant favorite of mine.

Anonymous said...

Oh boy...they're gonna fuck you good in that movie, ya know.
MOUNT AENOS ain't where ya wanna be.
Cause that's UN - Texas - Nevada - OSIRIS.
They got RGCYCHO 6 and that's LUKY LASS MINES.
ROVE- UK- ADA- they got JAGGER- CROW.
Oh ya.
There 's gonna be huge " blowback " from your TESLAGUN - CHESSLARESS.
Get ready for blockbuster " KANSAS KINGS".

Bibi said...

When I first saw this post while browsing through my reading list, I thought you wrote about rhododendron (I'm aware of my failing diagonal reading skills. Never been good at it)

Anyhow, great word! Not saying I'll remember it, but great word nonetheless. And I can use it, because it's the same in Dutch. Hey, have you noticed how often I say this? English and Dutch are basically the same XD

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