-abilitysuffix

Etymology: < -ability in words borrowed < Anglo-Norman and French ending in (Anglo-Norman) -abilitie , (Anglo-Norman and Middle French) -ableté , (Middle French) -abileté , (Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French) -abilité , and in words borrowed < Latin ending in -ābilitāt- , -ābilitās , ultimately showing suffixation of words ending in -ābilis -able suffix in -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix); compare -bilitāt- , -bilitās -bility suffix. Compare -ibility suffix.The ending -ability is originally and chiefly attested in a large number of nouns corresponding to adjectives in -able suffix, from the Middle English period onwards; these can be divided into (1) loanwords < French and Latin (e.g. mutability n., notability n., perdurability n., etc.), and (2) formations < English adjectives ending in -able suffix by the addition of the suffix -ity suffix (see -bility suffix). The foreign-language etymons of group 1 contain the suffix Anglo-Norman -abilitie , Anglo-Norman and Middle French -ableté , Middle French -abileté , Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French -abilité and their etymon classical Latin -ābilitāt- , -ābilitās . In Anglo-Norman and Old French, the normal reflex of classical Latin -ābilitāt- was -ableté (compare French -able < classical Latin -ābilis ); French forms in -abil- , although also attested from an early date, are learned forms influenced by Latin. Many medieval French nouns in -ableté (and variants) are borrowings < Latin, but formations with the compound suffix are found within French early on, from at least the 12th cent. (compare e.g. pardurableté , perdurableté perdurability n.). Nouns belonging to group 2 are found from the late Middle English period (an early example is movability n.), and are even more numerous than loanwords, accounting for the majority of nouns in -ability . By analogy with these two types of abstract nouns, the ending -ability finally became a productive suffix, forming nouns within English directly from verbs or (occasionally) nouns, in cases where no corresponding adjective in -able suffix is attested sufficiently early or at all. Such formations are relatively rare and late, dating from the second half of the 18th cent. or earlier; the apparently earliest example is pupilability n., which is unusual in that it is formed from a noun base. In meliorability n. and matriculability n. (first half of the 19th and first half of the 20th cent., respectively) the base is extrapolated from a verb ending in -ate (compare -ate suffix³). Formations immediately from verbs are attested slightly later, e.g. pluckability n., polarizability n., ornamentability n., etc.