  Aims. The physical implication of large blue shift of Ne viii in the quiet
Sun region is investigated in this paper. Methods. We compare the significant
Ne viii blue shifts, which are visible as large blue patches on the
Doppler-shift map of a middlelatitude quiet-Sun region observed by SUMER, with
the coronal magnetic-field structures as reconstructed from a simultaneous
photospheric magnetogram by means of a force-free-field extrapolation. Results.
We show for the first time that coronal funnels also exist in the quiet Sun.
The region studied contains several small funnels that originate from network
lanes, expand with height and finally merge into a single wide open-field
region. However, the large blue shifts of the Ne viii line are not generally
associated with funnels. A comparison between the projections of coronal loops
onto the solar x-y-plane and the Ne viii dopplergram indicates that there are
some loops that reveal large Ne viii blue shifts in both legs, and some loops
with upflow in one and downflow in the other leg. Conclusions. Our results
suggest that strong plasma outflow, which can be traced by large Ne viii blue
shift, is not necessarily associated with the solar wind originating in coronal
funnels but appears to be a signature of mass supply to coronal loops. Under
the assumption that the measured Doppler shift of the Ne viii line represents
the real outflow velocity of the neon ions being markers of the proton flow, we
estimate the mass supply rate to coronal loops to be about 10\^{34} s\^{-1}.
