This volume brings together eleven studies on the history of language and writing in the North Sea area, with focus on contacts and interchanges through time. Its range spans from the investigation of pre-Germanic place-names to present-day Shetland; the materials studied include glosses, legal and trade documents as well as place names and modern dialects. The volume is unique in its combination of linguistics and place-name studies with literacy studies, which allows for a very dynamic picture of the history of language contact and texts in the North Sea area. Different approaches come together to illuminate a major insight: the omnipresence of multilingualism as a context for language development and a formative characteristic of literacy. Among the contributors are experts on English, Nordic and German language history. The book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students working on the history of Northern European languages, literacy studies and language contact

Stephen Laker, in Journal of English and Germanic Philosophy 112:3 (July 2013):
The volume is a valuable contribution to ongoing research into language contact and multilingualism in northern Europe. Many connections can be drawn between the different articles and sections of the volume. Scholars with special interests in the early Anglo-Saxon period, Celtic contacts, or Scandinavian influences on Northern English and Scots will find much of interest here.