'This is a book like no other. The author of that classic work, The Carolingian Lord, who demonstrated the wealth of new historical evidence and insights which semantic study of the Germanic lexicon can deliver, has struck again! He now offers a general but well referenced introduction to this field for those students of late Antiquity and the earlier Middle Ages who are interested in the interface of a Roman and Christian Europe with the civilisation of its Germanic neighbours. For the cultural historian, Language and History in the Early Germanic World will be an essential companion and guide for many years to come.' David N. Dumville, University of Cambridge