Why does “lineage” retain the "e" when the suffix "-age" is added?

"Lineage" (/ˈlɪn·i·ɪdʒ/) is equivalent to "line" + "-age". Other such nouns lose the "e" when this suffix is added:

Stem + Suffix = Noun
Anecdote + Age = Anecdotage
Cleave + Age = Cleavage
Dose + Age = Dosage
Store + Age = Storage
Use + Age = Usage

Why does "lineage" stray from this trend and retain the "e" after we add "-age"?


Solution 1:

According to Etymonline the Middle English word was linage ("line of descent; an ancestor"), which came from the Old French lignage.

"The word altered in spelling and pronunciation in early Modern English, apparently by some combined influence of line (n.) and lineal."

I wonder if there was further influence from 'linear' (from the French linéaire) and 'lineal' (from the Old French 'lineal'!)

Perhaps there was also an acknowledgement that a phoneme in the OF lignage had been elided in ME.