What is the meaning of 萝图荟萃?

Question

《萝图荟萃》 is the title of the catalogue of the imperial map collection from 1760. However, according to various dictionaries, 萝 means "radish" which makes no sense in this context.

Some scholarly papers translate it as "assemblage of distinguished maps", or as "royal compilation of territorial maps". This does not seem to fit either.

What is a meaningful English translation of this title? What is the meaning of 萝图 in this context?

Answer 1

萝图 means "territory(疆宇)".

荟萃 means "the assembly/gathering of distinguished people or exquisite objects". (Note, in this case, the distinguished things that have been gathered/assembled are "territory maps").

IMO, 萝图荟萃 can be simply translated as "Book/Assembly/Collection of Territory Maps".

Answer 2

“蘿圖” is an elegance term for map, emphasising the royal heritage

in 冊府元龜 卷一 帝系

蓋瓜瓞之相屬，故蘿圖而有融

“瓜瓞” means “melon, gourd, cucumbers, and their little ones”; “有融” means “for a long time”

so, using radish (蘿) in lieu of “瓜瓞”, the two verses would be read as:

because radishes [in a field], belong to each other [chronologically]; therefore the maps of the governance [would] last a long time

Some scholarly papers translate it as "assemblage of distinguished maps", or as "royal compilation of territorial maps"

maybe “royal selection of territorial maps”?

have fun :)