heritor

noun

1. A person who inherits; an heir or heiress.

   We have thus fallen, save that Luxury With barren merchandise piles up the gate Where nobler thoughts and deeds should enter by: Else might we still be Milton's heritors.

   How comes it then that from such high estate

2. A proprietor or landholder in a parish.

   "To the Interested HERITORS in the Counties of Mid-Lothian, Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Berwick. […]

   The printed statement reads (abridged in parts):—

Where it comes from

From Middle English heriter, from Anglo-Norman heriter, Old French heritier, earlier eretier, eritier, from Late Latin hērēditārium (from the adjective hērēditārius (“hereditary”)), which took the place of hērēs (“heir”). In the 16th century conformed to agent nouns in -our, -or. By surface analysis, herit + -or.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry heritor (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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