[Italian, of Venetian origin, alteration (probably influenced by -ola, feminine diminutive suffix, or by Italian dialectal words akin to Italian dondolare, to rock back and forth) of Old Venetian condura, from Medieval Greek kontoura, kondoura, a kind of small boat (probably so called from a distinctive high or wide stern), from feminine of kontouros, having a docked tail : Late Greek kontos, short (probably back-formed from konto-, taken as meaning "short" in such compounds as Greek kontokunēgesion, a hunt using pikes, or kontobolein, to strike with a pole (that is, at short range, not with arrows or javelins), stem of Greek kontos, pike, pole) + Greek ourā, tail; see ors- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]