Heiro and heiroine
The only words for which no dictionary seems to provide the original root idea are in a way the most important of all: those words 'hero' and 'heroine' themselves. But, after many years working on this book, I am convinced that, lost in the mists of history, they must be closely related in some way to our word 'heir'. In other words, the hero or heroine is he or she who is born to inherit; who is worthy to succeed; who must grow up as fit to take on the torch of life from those who went before. Such is the essence of the task laid on each of us as we come into this world. That is what [all] stories are trying to tell us.
Christopher Booker,
The Seven Basic Plots, Why we tell stories
Кстати, очень сильная книжка для гуманитарных технологов любого направления.