Behind the 8-ball

[Michael Mccafferty]

As many of you know, the Miami-Illinois term for "eight" /paraani/ is, as
Bob Rankin pointed out in an article in IJAL several years ago, a
borrowing from a Siouan language. Tutelo typically gets the nod.

Can anyone suggest why this happened? No, not that Bob wrote it up, but
that such a borrowing occurred. It's one of the strangest things. I
imagine, since we're talking numbers, that it was borrowed probably in the
process of trading. But does the number 8 have any mythological meaning?

Thanks,
Michael