Doesn't Japanese have two words for green, one modern and one old, before the blue-green distinction?
It does: midori (緑) and ao (青)
It does: midori (緑) and ao (青)
In most context ao is definitely blue. It’s not green at all. The color of the sky is blue. Blue as green shows up in a few spots, the city/prefecture Aomori, the blew Forrest, or aotogarashi, the blue chili pepper (which is like a mini Serrano). I’m not an expert on the language but I’m sure there’s a bunch more.
A "greenhorn" or other inexperienced person is also Aoi.
A youth / person in the springtime of their life is 青春.
The etymology of that is different though. In Japanese it's because babies have a blue spot on their ass.