[4] *öldum ‘men’: All the mss have a word meaning ‘men’ here, ýtum in the case of R715ˣ and hölðum in all the others, which lacks alliteration with the following line. Mss 281ˣ and 597bˣ achieve the alliteration with hjörð ‘herd’ for jörð in l. 5, but this makes little sense. Most eds, as here, emend to öldum. Cf. Hym 22/2 (NK 92): sá er ǫldom bergr ‘that one who protects men’, referring to the god Þórr in his fight with Miðgarðsormr. Kock retains hǫlðum and emends jörð to hjarl ‘land’ (Skald; NN §2361), which produces the desired meaning but is without ms. justification.