Etymology

abeng

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Today it means: An animal (usually bull) horn used by the Maroon people of Jamaica as a musical instrument; and also (historical) formerly by slaveholders to summon slaves to canefields and by the Maroon army to communicate cryptic messages over great distances. Full definition →

Jamaican Creole abeng ← Akan abɛŋ
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The story

  1. Akan · derived fromabɛŋ“animal horn; wind instrument”
  2. Jamaican Creole · borrowed fromabeng
  3. English todayabeng

Borrowed from Jamaican Creole abeng, from Akan abɛŋ (“animal horn; wind instrument”) (Twi).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.