# 青墨



## preciouspuppy

This is a brand of ink stick.  I know mo is ink.  What does qing mean in this name?
http://screencast.com/t/NDNmNTRhNjk

xiè xie ni de bang mang!


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## humvee

preciouspuppy said:


> This is a brand of ink stick. I know mo is ink. What does qing mean in this name?
> http://screencast.com/t/NDNmNTRhNjk
> 
> xiè xie ni de bang mang!


 
Dunno why, I cannot open this url

If qing is 清, then it means clear, distinct or pure.

If it is 青, in ancient chinese, it meant blue, in modern chinese means green.


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## preciouspuppy

Thanks, maybe this url http://artrealization.com/shop/index.php?cPath=23

I guess it means pure.  It's black ink.

xiè xie!


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## bighead+

preciouspuppy said:


> thanks, maybe this url http://artrealization.com/shop/index.php?cpath=23
> 
> i guess it means pure.  It's black ink.
> 
> Xiè xie!



我替你查了一下。青墨，墨的一种，墨液色显青光,系添加花青颜料。


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## preciouspuppy

bighead, I cannot read the Chinese characters. I had to copy and paste each character into an online dictionary. Are you saying it means "black ink" because qing1 also can mean black?
Thank you.


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## bighead+

Qing Mo: blue/green ink. Basically it's black ink with some blue/green color. But it is probably just a brand name here. So it's prudent for you to ask the store what it really means.


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## preciouspuppy

Thank you.  It's all pretty difficult!


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## xiaolijie

You won't be wrong to take 青墨 as meaning "black ink".


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## preciouspuppy

Thanks, that's what I wondered, since qing can apparently mean black, as well as green or blue..sigh..I appreciate it!


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## bighead+

Preciouspuppy, I did some research:
1. 青(qing): cyan
2. 青墨(qing mo): black ink with a little cyan color because it's black ink mixed with a little cyan paint.
3. In you case, I'm 99% sure that Qing Mo here is just the brand name. The ink is black and I’m not sure the manufacturer would bother to add some cyan paint in it.

Qing is cyan which is similar to green or blue, but absolutely not black. Thank you for giving me a chance to learn a new word "cyan".


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## preciouspuppy

bighead, no wonder your head is big.  You go through the trouble to pack it with information!  Thank you for sharing it!

I think it's a brand name, too, as the word carries rich connotations of blue, green, black and young ( http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E9%9D%92/1312119).  Quite evocative.



A great majority of Chinese brush painters use Marie's Colors.  No, this is not an ad or endorsement of the product, although it's the one I use.

Now I see in Marie's Colors that 
tài qīng lán酞青 蓝is called *phthalocyanine* .

I English, the word *cyan* is familiar to painters and scientists, not so much to the general public (so you're in good company).  However, the word *cyanide*  is known by all; it is a very well-known poison.  In Flaubert's great novel about the folly of romanticiam, Madame Bovary, the eponymous character, Emma Bovary, takes cyanide, thinking she will die a romantic death, but actually she dies horribly and her mouth turns blue from the cyanide poisoning.
Painters know to be careful when using a blue paint with the word cyan in it.  Don't ingest any!
On the other hand, *indigo* is seen as a harmless plant dye. In English, it is sort of a dreamy word that shows up in poetry and song. To me it is a little confusing that hua qing (see below) is called indigo in Marie's colors.  Maybe it's made from cyan, not from the indigo plant--or maybe the word "indigo" is just the best descriptor in English for this color.  After all, "blue-jean blue" or "denim" wouldn't sound very painterly.  


The word "cyan" or qing doesn't show up in the English for the following two colors in Marie's Colors, but it does appear in the Chinese: 
 "indigo" :
hua qīng 花青

blue hue (or label 3 blue):
san qīng三青
.

Back to the topic of inks and brand names, the other brands on the http://www.artrealization.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=665 page are:

Da Sen Red Ink

Xuan He Great Ink

Li Yan Ting Professional Ink

Red Star Chinese Ink  (in English, for some unknown reason)

'Yun Tou Yan' Premium Grade Ink

And then there is the ink I actually use, standard Yi -de ink, which does not appear to be a brand name.

I do Chinese brush painting, but I spend more time on the terminology than on actual painting!


謝謝你的幫忙


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## humvee

lol, precious, that's way too academic!


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## preciouspuppy

wo zhe dao!  I'm a word geek!


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## humvee

same here, wordsmith


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## patrick_socal

preciouspuppy said:


> bighead, I cannot read the Chinese characters. I had to copy and paste each character into an online dictionary. Are you saying it means "black ink" because qing1 also can mean black?
> Thank you.



Hi preciouspuppy,

Noted you said you had to paste chars one by one.

At the "translate" tab on the website mdbg.net you can paste in a string of  characters and get a translation.

faster, easier.

patrick


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## preciouspuppy

Thank you, Patrick.  I will enjoy the dictionary!


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## Jerry Chan

bighead+ said:


> Qing is cyan which is similar to green or blue, but absolutely not black.



Hi Bighead+
青 actually could mean black.
Of course we don't use it this way anymore, but we still have 青眼/青睞 and 青絲, right?


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## bighead+

Jerry Chan said:


> Hi Bighead+
> 青 actually could mean black.
> Of course we don't use it this way anymore, but we still have 青眼/青睞 and 青絲, right?



谢谢你的指正。我查了一下，青确实可以表示黑:
http://zidian.teachercn.com/qing/Word_8507.html

我非中文专业人士，指导个把老外问题不大，真要较真我就勉为其难了。 我一般有英文问题要问了会顺便上这来看看，所以如没有及时回复，请不要误解。


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## humvee

wowo, easy, guys. we don't have to do spectrum analysis. 
Newton's prism.......


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## preciouspuppy

Yes, I think we are done with this thread. 
Thank you very much, everyone!


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