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It must be weird for being blue or black ... but is it really green?

All usages of 青 I've read so far mean blue.
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2020-07-30T09:08:02.417
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2020-07-31T04:10:41.203
2020-07-31T04:10:41.203
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question
meaning
Does 青山 (aoyama) mean green or blue or black mountain?
For the most part, 青 has come to express the colour blue and 緑 expresses
green, but there are some words or phrases which use the older meaning of 青
that encompassed both shades.

_[EDIT]_ As pointed out by Leebo in the comments, there is also the word 青毛
(black horse coat colour) wherein the black sheen may have a blue tinge, but
words with such usages are interesting exceptions rather than the norm.

The distinction between blue and green in the Japanese language is relatively
recent, apparently
([Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language#Japanese)).
So while there is a word for green (みどり) now, both colours used to be
expressed only with the word 青. That has led to an unusual situation whereby
occasionally context and convention determine which colour is intended by
using 青. For example, 青りんご is obviously 'green apple' and not 'blue apple'.
Likewise, 青森 could be literally translated as 'green forest' since trees are
green and not blue. The traffic light 青信号 is called a green light in English
but in Japan the shade of green used in the actual light does seem to have a
blue tinge, so that one is debatable. But the point remains that basically, 青
= blue and 緑 = green, with some exceptions that have remained from older
times.

Therefore, 青山 would be 'green mountain', presumably referring to the mountain
being covered in green trees.
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2020-07-30T09:34:52.753
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2020-07-30T09:50:24.087
2020-07-30T09:50:24.087
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answer