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Re: -able

From:Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>
Date:Monday, April 14, 2008, 7:47
T. A. McLeay skrev:
> MorphemeAddict@WMCONNECT.COM wrote: >> In a message dated 4/13/2008 23:47:47 PM Central Daylight Time, >> scott.hlad@TELUS.NET writes: >> >> >>> I'm looking for the derivation of the suffix "-able" which we have in >>> English which appears the same in French and as "-avel" in Portugese. >>> Any ideas? >>> Scotto >>> >> My first guess is that it's from Latin "-abilis". > > Which in turn is -a:- + -bilis; the -a:- could also have been -i- (hence > "-ible" in "impossible") or not included, hence "soluble" from "solve" > (La. solu:-bilis and solvere, noting Classical Latin -v- was /w/, and it > is for whatever reason one of my favorite pairs of words in English). > Any decent dictionary should tell you this much.
In fact the -a/i/u- was the final vowel of the verb stem. OTOH the adjective _able_ comes from _habilis_ 'manageable, handy, apt' derived from _habére_ 'to have, to hold'. /BP 8^)> -- Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch atte melroch dotte se ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "C'est en vain que nos Josués littéraires crient à la langue de s'arrêter; les langues ni le soleil ne s'arrêtent plus. Le jour où elles se *fixent*, c'est qu'elles meurent." (Victor Hugo)

Replies

Scotto Hlad <scott.hlad@...>
Eric Christopherson <rakko@...>