An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Rodomontade

by Friedrich Kluge

Rodomontade, f., ‘boasting, bluster, swaggering,’ from the equiv. Fr. rodomontade, Ital. rodomondata, f. Rodomonte is derived from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, and is the name of a boastful Moorish hero; it first appears in Boiardo's Orlando Innamorata, and means lit. ‘roller of mountains, one who boasts that he can roll away mountains.’