Meaning

noun a church endowment

noun an inheritance coming by right of birth (especially by primogeniture)

originFrom earlier patrimoyne, from patremoyne, from Middle French patrimoine/patremoine, semilearned borrowing from Latin patrimōnium, from pater (“father”) + -mōnium (“state, condition”). First attested in 1513. By surface analysis, patri- + -mony. Compare matrimony. Displaced native Old English fæderġestrēon.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0