According to Merriam-Webster, one of the definitions of the word finesse is as follows:
refinement or delicacy of workmanship, structure, or texture
Now, based on the fact that the Latin base fin means end in English, I always intuitively assumed that the word had connotations with such concepts as: "finishing touch, attention to the end-product, and taking special care of the final details in a craft or situation". Are my perceptions of the word's associative properties a stretch of the imagination, or correctly guided?
Best Answer
The French loan-word finesse (also per the OED Pr. and Sp. fineza, Cat. finesa, Ital. finezza) derives from common Romance *finitia, from fino meaning — brace yourself now — “fine”.
So it just means fineness. This in turn was a back-formation from finire, meaning to finish.
One might as well ask why fine finishings aren’t doubly ended.