Is the word aceite (oil) used for all oils (like vegetable oil, mechanical oil, etc.)?
Is the word for a two-dimensional arrow (like a traffic signal or a sign indicating the direction of something) flecha, the same word as the weapon?
Yes. Originally it meant olive oil only, but has since become generalised and can be applied to any other vegetable or mineral oil.
(Note that “oil” in English, and its cognates in other languages, is derived from Latin “oleum” and Greek “elaion”, which originally meant olive oil only, so the same development has been going on there. You can still clearly see the similarities between “olive” and “oil”.)
I think the same thing happened in parallel in Spanish - aceite is oil; aceituna is olive - coming from Arabic instead of Latin
And yes, what you shoot with a bow is a “flecha”.
As to oil, a notable distinction is “crude oil”, which is “petróleo” (but then again petroleum = oil from rocks).
As a native Spanish speaker I can confirm to you that the word “flecha”, just as the word “arrow”, means both the figure used to point at things or to show directions, and the projectile you shoot with a bow.
Never mind. Too soon and too silly.
Interesting. In English, the projectile type of arrow has “fletchings” - the (traditionally) feather vanes at the nock end. Fletching is related to fledge, to acquire feathers as fledglings do.
Arrow, on the other hand, comes from the word for “bow” or arc. It meant a thing that belongs to the bow.
And apparently using the word “arrow” to refer to the drawn pointer on a map, etc. is a much more recent meaning.
The aceite thing threw me on my first visit to Spain, just because of its superficial similarity to aceto - the Italian word for vinegar - from Latin acetum (and because, on pretty much every table in every restaurant, you can commonly expect to find salt, oil and vinegar)
Hey, welcome to the straight dope message board. Poke around. I hope you enjoy it.
However, “aceite” does not extend as far as “petroleum” in Spanish, as “oil” does in English. For that, stick with “petróleo.”