- heir
- late 13c., from Anglo-Fr. heir, from O.Fr. hair, from L. heres (gen. heredis) "heir, heiress" (see heredity). Heir apparent (late 14c.) has the French order of noun-adj., though it was not originally so in English. It is the heir of one still alive whose right is clear. After death the heir apparent becomes the heir-at-law.
- heirloom
- 1472, ayre lome, from heir (q.v.) + loom in its original but now otherwise obsolete sense of "implement, tool." Technically, some piece of property that by will or custom passes down with the real estate.
- inherit
- c.1300, "to make (someone) an heir," from O.Fr. enheriter "make heir, appoint as heir," from L.L. inhereditare "to appoint as heir," from L. in- "in" + hereditare "to inherit," from heres (gen. heredis) "heir." Sense of "receive inheritance" arose mid-14c.; original sense is retained in disinherit.
- presume
- late 14c., "to take upon oneself, to take liberty," also "to take for granted, presuppose," from O.Fr. presumer (12c.), from L. præsumere (see presumption). Presumptive is recorded from 1560s. The heir presumptive (1620s) is "presumed" to be the heir if the heir apparent is unavailable.
- heredity
- 1540, from M.Fr. hérédité, from L. hereditatem (nom. hereditas) "condition of being an heir," from heres (gen. heredis) "heir," from PIE base *ghe- "to be empty, left behind" (cf. Gk. khera "widow"). Legal sense of "inheritable quality or character" first recorded 1784; the modern biological sense seems to be found first in 1863, introduced by Herbert Spencer.
- apparent
- late 14c., from O.Fr. aparant, from L. apparentem (nom. apparens), prp. of apparere (see appear). First attested in phrase heir apparent (see heir). Apparently in the sense of "as far as one can judge, seemingly," first attested 1846. Apparent magnitude in astronomy (how bright a heavenly body looks from earth, as opposed to absolute magnitude, which is how bright it really is) is attested from 1875.
- orphan
- c.1300, from L.L. orphanus "parentless child" (cf. O.Fr. orfeno, It. orfano), from Gk. orphanos "orphaned," lit. "deprived," from orphos "bereft," from PIE *orbho- "bereft of father," also "deprived of free status," from base *orbh- "to change allegiance, to pass from one status to another" (cf. Hittite harb- "change allegiance," L. orbus "bereft," Skt. arbhah "weak, child," Arm. orb "orphan," O.Ir. orbe "heir," O.C.S. rabu "slave," rabota "servitude" (cf. robot), Goth. arbja, Ger. erbe, O.E. ierfa "heir," O.H.G. arabeit, Ger. Arbeit "work," O.Fris. arbed, O.E. earfoð "hardship, suffering, trouble"). The verb is attested from 1814. Orphanage "institute or home for orphans" is first attested 1865.
- tanist
- "elected heir of a Celtic chief," 1538, from Gael. tanaiste, lit. "parallel, second," from O.Ir. tanaise "designated successor," from Celt. *tani-hessio- "one who is waited for."
- heritage
- early 13c., "that which may be inherited," from O.Fr. eritage, from heriter "inherit," from L.L. hereditare, ult. from L. heres (gen. heredis) "heir" (see heredity).
- scion
- c.1300, "a shoot or twig," from O.Fr. sion, cion (Mod.Fr. scion, Picard chion), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Frankish *kid-, from P.Gmc. *kidon-, from PIE *geie- "to sprout, split, open." Figurative use is attested from 1580s; meaning "an heir, a descendant" is from 1814, from the "family tree" image.
- partner
- late 13c., from O.Fr. parçener "joint heir," from parçon "partition," from L. partitionem (nom. partitio) "portion" (see partition). Form infl. by part (n.). The word may also represent O.Fr. part tenour "part holder." Partnership in the commercial sense is attested from c.1700.
- H
- the pronunciation "aitch" was in O.Fr. (ache), and is from a presumed L.L. *accha (cf. It. effe, elle, emme), with the central sound approximating the value of the letter when it passed from Roman to Germanic, where it at first represented a strong, distinctly aspirated -kh- sound close to that in Scottish loch. In earlier L. the letter was called ha. In Romance languages, the sound became silent in L.L. and was omitted in O.Fr. and It., but it was restored in M.E. spelling in words borrowed from O.Fr., and often later in pronunciation, too. Thus Mod.Eng. has words ultimately from L. with missing -h- (e.g. able, from L. habile); with a silent -h- (e.g. heir, hour); with a formerly silent -h- now vocalized (e.g. humble, honor); and even a few with an excrescent -h- fitted in confusion to words that never had one (e.g. hostage, hermit). Relics of the formerly unvoiced -h- persist in pedantic insistence on an historical (object) and in obs. mine host. The use in digraphs (e.g. -sh-, -th-) goes back to the ancient Gk. alphabet, which used it in -ph-, -th-, -kh- until -H- took on the value of a long "e" and the digraphs acquired their own characters. The letter passed into Roman use before this evolution, and thus retained there more of its original Sem. value.