General: An essential or distinctive attribute or quality of
a thing.
Physics: A quantity, such as length, mass, pressure, temperature,
or volume, that relates to the state of a system and can be expressed in
numbers obtained from well-defined measurement operations.
Etymology (EN): From M.E. propriete “ownership, something owned, one’s own nature,” from
M.Fr. propriété, from L. proprietas
“ownership, property, propriety,” literally “special character,”
noun of quality from proprius “one’s own, special.”
Etymology (PE): Dârâk “thing owned,” from dâr present stem of
dâštan “to have, to possess” + -âk (on the model of
xorâk, pušâk, kâvâk). The first element
dâštan, from
Mid.Pers. dâštan,
O.Pers./Av. root dar- “to hold, keep back, maintain, keep in mind;”
Skt. dhr- “to to hold, keep, preserve,” dharma- “law;”
Gk. thronos “elevated seat, throne;”
L. firmus “firm, stable;” Lith. daryti
“to make;” PIE *dher- “to hold, support.”
