means A sum of money (or thing) given to someone with the agreement that it will be paid or returned, usually with interest.

from From Old Norse 'lán,' meaning a thing lent, which sailed into English with the Vikings and gradually edged out the older native form. It traces back to a Proto-Germanic root tied to the idea of 'leaving' something with someone — the same family that gives German 'Lehen' (a feudal estate held on loan) and is a distant cousin of 'relinquish.' At its heart, then, a loan has always meant something left in your hands that was never quite yours to keep.