This study explores the pathways of commerce by which Italian loanwords made their way into German and French in the Middle Ages and the early modern period (15th-18th cent.). It links culture-historical and linguistic criteria by analyzing the various textual genres associated with the occupational setting of international trade. The pathways of borrowing are georeferenced and presented on 130 maps based upon nearly 4,000 references drawn from over 150 different textual sources.