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Let me say first that Engelbrekt's last point is not true - in fact a Dedekind zeta function is always a product of Artin L-functions. It is the structure of the Galois closure which is relevant here. Let me give a nice example which is indicative of the general case. Let $p(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ be an irreducible cubic, and let $\alpha$ be a root of $p$. Then $K=\mathbb{Q}(\alpha)$ has trivial automorphism group, and its Galois closure (say $L/\mathbb{Q}$) is an S3-extension. The group S3 has three irreducible representations: the trivial representation, the "sign representation" $\chi$ which is also one-dimensional, and an irreducible two-dimensional representation which we will call $\rho$. Then we have the relations $\zeta_K(s)=\zeta_{\mathbb{Q}}(s)L(s,\rho)$ and $\zeta_L(s)=\zeta_{\mathbb{Q}}(s)L(s,\chi)L(s,\rho)^2$. The proofs of these facts are part of the formalism of Artin L-functions.

Generally, the distinction is really a matter of history. Certain objects were named zeta functions - Hasse-Weil, Dedekind - while Dirichlet chose the letter "L" for the functions he made out of characters. However, one feature is that "zeta" functions tend to have poles, and they often "factor" into L-functions. These vagaries are made more precise in various places, for example Iwaniec-Kowalski Ch. 5 and some survey articles on the "Selberg class" of Dirichlet series.

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Let me say first that Engelbrekt's last point is not true - in fact a Dedekind zeta function is always a product of Artin L-functions. It is the structure of the Galois closure which is relevant here. Let me give a nice example which is indicative of the general case. Let $p(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ be an irreducible cubic, and let $\alpha$ be a root of $p$. Then $K=\mathbb{Q}(\alpha)$ has trivial automorphism group, and its Galois closure (say $L/\mathbb{Q}$) is an S3-extension. The group S3 has three irreducible representations: the trivial representation, the "sign representation" $\chi$ which is also one-dimensional, and an irreducible two-dimensional representation which we will call $\rho$. Then we have the relations $\zeta_K(s)=\zeta_{\mathbb{Q}}(s)L(s,\rho)$ and $\zeta_L(s)=\zeta_{\mathbb{Q}}(s)L(s,\chi)L(s,\rho)^2$. The proofs of these facts are part of the formalism of Artin L-functions.

Generally, the distinction is really a matter of history. Certain objects were named zeta functions - Hasse-Weil, Dedekind - while Dirichlet chose the letter "L" for the functions he made out of characters. However, one feature is that "zeta" functions tend to have poles, and they often "factor" into L-functions. These vagaries are made more precise in various places, for example Iwaniec-Kowalski Ch. 5 and some survey articles on the "Selberg class" of Dirichlet series.
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