[3] stǫg (n. nom. pl.) ‘the stays’: So all other mss. Stǫng ‘pole’ (R) violates both the syntax (the subject is sg. and verb is pl.) and the metre because metrical position 4 cannot be occupied by a long nominal syllable in lines of this type (see Gade 1995a, 85-7). The stay is a rope that supports the mast (see Falk 1912, 59; Jesch 2001a, 165).