abeng

English

WOTD – 21 May 2022

Borrowed from Jamaican Creole abeng,^[1] from Akan abɛŋ (“animal horn; wind instrument”) (Twi).^[2]

abeng (plural abengs)

animal horn used by the Maroon people of Jamaica as a musical instrument, etc.

^ Richard Allsopp, editor (1996), “abeng (horn), n”, in Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 5, column 2; F[rederic] G[omes] Cassidy and R[obert] B[rock] Le Page, editors (2002), “ABENG, sb dial”, in Dictionary of Jamaican English, 2nd edition, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, →ISBN, page 2, column 2.
^ “abeng, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “abeng, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

abeng (plural abeng dem, quantified abeng)

(music) An abeng (horn of the Jamaican Maroons).
- 2003, Louise Bennett, Mervyn Morris, Aunty Roachy Seh, →ISBN, page 14:
  Yuh know omuch time dem sen soldiers an militia fi attack Nanny Town an Nanny pop dem? […] She always wear her abeng horn tie pon a string roun her wais […]
  Do you know how often soldiers and militias were sent to attack Nanny Town and Nanny routed them? […] She always wore her abeng on a lanyard around her waist […]

^ Richard Allsopp, editor (1996), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 5.