 In our language sáhkku means ‘penalty’.You may know the Sámit often give things new names just to avoid the minister’s wrath, so they could say penalty while they really thought of offering.”"

In support of this theory, Borvo has noted similarities between some wood-constructed Sámi sieidis (objects that are sacrificed to) and the shapes given to certain sáhkku king pieces.The game was also referred to as to play "birccut", which simply means to play "dice" in North Sámi.