This study uses an areal-linguistic approach to investigate etymologies and to illustrate the geographical distribution of generic terms for 'music' in 263 languages from around the world. Of main interest is the issue of borrowing, wherein words spread from certain source languages that are culturally dominant in specific areas. In the present study, six source languages with generic terms for 'music' in six musical areas are defined. In addition to these areas, there are also languages that do not borrow, but instead keep or invent native terms for 'music'. This shows the variation among the different degrees of positive and negative attitudes by language authorities toward internationalism and influence from certain cultural centres in the area, which are reflected in the diversity of the general terms for 'music'.