# Italian: aceto=vinegar. Spanish: aciete=oil. Bwuh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 3, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-aceto-vinegar-spanish-aciete-oil-bwuh/461775 "2008-09-03T00:04:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-aceto-vinegar-spanish-aciete-oil-bwuh/461775/1 "2008-09-03T00:04:24Z")
This might be a stupidly simple question, but I can’t find any good resources for delving into foreign-language etymologies in English… In Italian, Aceto is vinegar. In English, Acetic acid is the significant component of vinegar - indeed it seems to be the case that the word _acid_ itself derives from the same root. So what’s going on with Spanish, where _aciete_ means oil? From what root comes this word? Is this a false cognate, or did something weird happen with swapped labels somewhere along the line? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-aceto-vinegar-spanish-aciete-oil-bwuh/461775/2 "2008-09-03T00:14:18Z")
[Wiki](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aceite) says it’s from Arabic, for “grease” or “lubricate.” So, no, no common root, despite the apparent similarity. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-aceto-vinegar-spanish-aciete-oil-bwuh/461775/3 "2008-09-03T00:14:58Z")
It’s a false cognate. Italian aceto comes from the Latin acetum, which means “vinegar”. Spanish aciete comes from the Arabic zeyt, which means oil/lubrication. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-aceto-vinegar-spanish-aciete-oil-bwuh/461775/4 "2008-09-03T00:15:10Z")
Wiki also says that it’s «aceite», not «aciete». (Yeah, I’m being pretentious, in a half-remembered high school way…) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-aceto-vinegar-spanish-aciete-oil-bwuh/461775/5 "2008-09-03T00:33:20Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Wiki also says that it’s «aceite», not «aciete». Correct. acEIte. In parallel to that, olives can be called either “olivas”, or \*“aceitunas” \*, both in the end from “what you get oil from”. Meanwhile, in Spanish vinegar is “_vinagre_”; the root of which means “soured wine” ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-aceto-vinegar-spanish-aciete-oil-bwuh/461775/6 "2008-09-03T02:47:57Z")
Chemistry wise, acet- (ic,-yl,-ate) is a prefix indicating a methyl group (CH[sub]3[/sub] attached to a carbonyl (C=O). It has nothing to do with acids except that organic acids are a type of carbonyl. It makes sense then that acetic would be derived from a word for oil since methyl groups are oily. The other prefixes have some interesting derivations but butane is the only one I remember off the top of my head. Butane is derived from butter because butyric acid is a decomposition product of butter. At least thats what I was taught. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-aceto-vinegar-spanish-aciete-oil-bwuh/461775/7 "2008-09-03T04:25:30Z")
> [@](#): > > It makes sense then that acetic would be derived from a word for oil since methyl groups are oily. No. Acetic isn’t derived from a word meaning oil. That’s the whole point - they’ve different roots. Acetic is from the Latin _acetum_ meaning vinegar, but the Spanish word is from the Arabic _zeyt_ meaning oil.