Þás élreifar ófu
Ægis dœtr ok tœttu
fǫls við frost of alnar
fjallgarðs rokur harðar.
Þás harðar rokur fǫls fjallgarðs ófu ok tœttu élreifar dœtr Ægis, of alnar við frost.
When hard whirlwinds from the white mountain range wove and tore apart the storm-happy daughters of Ægir <giant> [WAVES], nourished by frost.
[2] tœttu: so all others, teygðu R
[2] tœttu ‘tore apart’: The verb tœta means ‘tear wool, tease or pick wool’, and is clearly the antithesis of ófu (l. 1, from vefa ‘weave, bring together’), describing the action of the whirlwinds in blowing the waves now together, now apart. Ms. R’s teygðu (from teygja ‘entice, lure, draw out’) is possible but less good than the majority mss’ reading, both in sense and because it does not provide aðalhending.