Is the word E "able" related to the suffix E "-able"?

Question

able(1)

From Middle English, from Old Northern French able, variant of Old French abile, habile, from Latin habilis ("easily managed, held, or handled; apt; skillful"), from habeō ("have, hold").

able(2)

From Middle English ablen, from Middle English able (adjective).

-able

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin -ābilis, from -a- or -i- + bilis ("capable or worthy of being acted upon").

Not closely related etymologically, though currently related semantically, to able.

Replaced native Old English -bǣre ("bearing, making, worth"), from Proto-Germanic *bēriz, *bērijaz; and -lic ("like, having the quality of"), from Proto-Germanic *-līkaz. Compare German -bar, Dutch -baar.

What's the etymology relationship between these words? Why the description is "not closely related"?

Answer 1

The Latin roots of the English word able are:

• The verb habeo: "to have, hold"

• The suffix -bilis: "that ought or can easily be [verb]ed"

The (unattested) Latin form was *habibilis, as mentioned by Sihler and noted by Tom Recht below. In classical Latin, this had been shortened to habilis, as it often happens with double syllables (called haplology). The h- had disappeared in certain French forms and dialects by the time the word was borrowed by English, and -lis regularly evolved into -le in French, resulting in English acquiring the word able.

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The Latin root of the English suffix -able is:

• The suffix -bilis: "capable or worthy of being [verb]ed"

The -a- was originally only present in verbs whose stems ended on -a-, such as ama-re "to love", resulting in ama-bilis "worthy of being loved"; however, this was later extended to other formations with -bilis, resulting in an an alternative suffix -abilis.

It is possible that the -ilis part in -bilis is related to the separate suffix -ilis as used in habilis, but I cannot find a definitive etymology for -bilis.