The idea of the sacrifice seems to emerge from the etymology of the toponym pa-ki-ja-ne. Indeed, the form is generally interpreted as stemming from the same root we find in the 1st millennium BC verb σφάζω, 'to slaughter', 'to kill', 'to sacrifice'. The Mycenaean term pa-ki-ja-ne appears to be formed through the ethnic suffix *-ia̅n-, and is thus readable as Spagia̅nes.