From Latin 'hērēs' (heir) — began as a legal term for inherited property, expanded in the 20th c. to broader cultural legacy.
Property that is or may be inherited; valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings, cultural traditions, and natural landscapes that have been passed down from previous generations.
From Old French 'heritage' (inheritance), from 'heriter' (to inherit), from Late Latin 'hērēditāre' (to inherit), from Latin 'hērēs' (heir), genitive 'hērēdis.' The Latin 'hērēs' is of uncertain deeper etymology; some scholars connect it to Greek 'khḗra' (widow, one left behind) and PIE *ǵʰeh₁- (to leave, go away, be empty), suggesting the original meaning was 'the one who is left' or 'the one who takes what is left behind.' The word entered English as a legal term for inherited property and only gradually expanded to its modern sense
UNESCO's World Heritage Sites program, established in 1972, has given 'heritage' its most visible modern meaning — but the word spent its first five centuries in English as a dry legal term for inherited property. The expansion to mean 'cultural legacy worth preserving' is largely a twentieth-century development driven by the conservation movement.