Chen Wen-teh, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Ethnology of the Academia Sinica, asked elders of the Nanwang tribe about this. They said that vasivas indicates the coming of the new year, while mangayangayau is a double-word drawn from mangayau, the word for the great hunt of the adult males.
根據中央研究院民族學研究所助理研究員陳文德向南王部落長老的請教，vasivas 意指新年的即將來臨及年的輪替；mangayangayau 則是成年人大狩獵祭 mangayau 的重覆語。