I suppose the distinction would be

Kopfsalat = lettuce
Salatkopf = head of lettuce
Salat = salad

I agree that this distinction is not always made by everyone, but usually it is clear from the context whether the dish or the vegetable is meant.

Dragon is right: context is everything (as ever). When I ask for "einen Salat bitte" at a restaurant, I'd be a bit surprised if they served me a head of lettuce.

lettuce - gruener salat

Support noli.
Kopfsalat is only one kind of lettuce. There is also Eisbergsalat, Römersalt, etc.
Didn't we have this before? Or was that the salad dressing thread?

stop talking about food please - another hour at least before I get home and can have something to eat :-(

wpr... but he said Salatkopf = head of lettuce rather than Kopfsalat, which is a type of lettuce

But the other types of lettuce have different names in English too: Cos lettuce, Romaine lettuce... The ordinary green lettuce, the kind we had when I was a little girl before all these fancy types of lettuce became popular, is "Kopfsalat".
When I say "grüner Salat" I usually mean a salad made just with lettuce leaves, lamb's lettuce, spinach, romaine, rocket or whatever green leafy salad vegetable(s) I happen to have around plus dressing, but no tomatoes, carrots, cheese, ham, tuna, radishes, beansprouts etc. That would be a "gemischter Salat".

hmmm. Dragon I don't disagree with anything you wrote in #7.
I meant more #2:
Kopfsalat = lettuce ?
should really be Kopfsalat = head lettuce
That is the name of this particular type of lettuce in AE anyway.
Jeder Kopfsalat ist lettuce, aber lettuce ist nicht immer Kopfsalat.

"Lettuce" ist der Oberbegriff, ähnlich wie "grüner Salat". Oder?
In a restaurant a grüner Salat would be a salad with only/just lettuce.
With the other stuff it would be a mixed or tossed salad.

lettuce - green eaf salad as opposed to radicchio or chicory -
lambs lettuce - is just another type of green salad

lllllll here are a few spare ones

my keyboard is a nuisance

@Dragon: lettuce leaves, lamb's lettuce, spinach, romaine, rocket
I would call all of these lettuce, with the exception of spinach. Lamb's lettuce is pretty rare in the US, I never saw it before coming to Germany, but I still would include it in the lettuce category.

I believe there is no term that is 100% equivalent to lettuce in German, but "grüner Salat" is as close as you can get. This is partly due to different salad cultures. ;-)
Now I'm getting hungry.

While I've never had a problem distinguishing between salad and lettuce in German, I struggle with pickles and cucumber. When odering a sandwich at say Subway, how would a German idicate that she wanted pickles (Gürke) but no cucumber (Gürke)? I simply pointed the one time I had to do so, but have wondered ever since. Eingelegte Gürken? Keine frische Gürke? or what?

Selkie: pickles = Essiggurken. Andere würden Gürkchen, Gurkerl oder so ähnlich sagen. cucumber = Salatgurke, falls eine Klarstellung nötig ist.

Ich kenne die folgende Unterscheidung:
Salat - Oberbegriff, bezeichnet sowohl das Gericht als auch das auch als Blattsalat bezeichnete Gemuese
Blattsalat - Oberbegriff fuer Gemuesesorten, deren Blaetter fuer Salat verwendet werden koennen
Gruener Salat - Kopfsalat

pickles = saure Gurke
cucumber = grüne Gurke (oder Salatgurke)

Probably another case where French als the language of the ruling caste left its traces.

What happened is that BOTH words for the same thing stuck around, only they assumed different meanings.

pig / pork [fr. porc]; DE has Schwein / Schweinefleisch

lamb / mutton [fr. mouton], DE has Lamm / Lammfleisch

cow/cattle / beef [fr. boeuf]; de has Rind, Rindfleisch.


The same thing also happened earlier when the Norsemen invaded England.
heaven/sky are both "Himmel" in DE, in England they began using the middle german heofan for spiritual heaven and northern german skye for the thing above your head.
shirt/skirt origally just meant "garment".

@Selkie: "gherkin" klingt doch fast wie "Gürkchen" ("Gurkerl", österreichisch). Und die u's in cucumber und Gurke passen auch zusammen. Wäre das zu merken? :-)

@ Yotix. What is "Hammel"? I always thought that was mutton?

@ all: What do you call the small plant then, before it has completely developed into a "Kopf Kopfsalat"
salad plant? lettuce plant?

And I only had that problem with the "Gurke". I asked someone to get me some "Gurke", meaning the fresh salad type and she brought pickled ones :P

@easy: Erm, I was quoting a linguistics lecture from 10 years ago off the top of me 'ead ...
I know mutton was mentioned as an example of a) language mixes with another language, b) the mix has two words for one meaning and c) the language keeps both words and creates a difference in meaning; I'm not sure about the details though.

The point is basically that "Hammel" is the same word we use in German to say "Hammelfleisch"; while EN has wether/sheep/whatever for the animal and [french] mutton for its meat.

Supposedly - to make it easier to understand for Autrian students maybe - this happened because the people who raised animals (poor farmers) spoke English, while the people who ate the meat (clergy, nobility) all spoke French. :)

@ Yotix
Thanks :)
I was just wondering, because I always thought that when I order "mutton" I get "Hammel" (urgh!), whereas when I order "lamb" I get "Lamm" (which is DELICIOUS!), and I mean the food/meat, not the animal.. I would like to keep sheep, though... :)