Finance comes from Old French finer ('to settle a debt'), itself from Latin finis ('end'), making its literal meaning the act of bringing a financial obligation to its conclusion.
The management of large amounts of money, especially by governments or large companies, or the monetary resources and affairs of a state or organisation.
From Old French finance, meaning 'ending, settlement of a debt, payment,' derived from finer ('to end, to settle a debt, to pay a ransom'), which itself traces to fin ('end'). The Latin ancestor is finis ('end, limit, boundary'). The semantic path is revealing: to 'finance' something originally meant to bring a debt to its end — to settle up.
Finance literally means 'ending' — specifically, ending a debt. Medieval French finer meant to settle up what you owed. The entire modern financial industry is named after the act of paying off what you borrowed, which is somewhat ironic given how much of it now depends on extending credit indefinitely.