Next to the verb sabe (with a closed a), there is an adjective/noun sábi (with an open a) 'beautiful/ joy, luck'. This adjective/noun is often linked to the verb. In our dictionary we specified the etymology of the word tentatively as follows: "do port. SUAVE, tal vez infl. por SABE(R BEM A)" (from Ptg. SUAVE, maybe influenced by SABE(R BEM A)).
Source: da Silva 1987: 126
Source: da Silva 1987: 25