In architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

, a transom is the term given to a transverse beam or bar in a frame, or to the crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight

Fanlight

A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...

 above it. Transom is also the customary U.S.

American English

American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....

 word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece. In Britain

British English

British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

, the transom above a door is usually referred to as a "fanlight

Fanlight

A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...

" irrespective of shape, and occasionally as an "overlight" or "hopper", or by the French word "vasistas". The term "fanlight" derives from the fan-like shape of early transoms, which became a traditional part of the Georgian style. "Vasistas" sounds similar to the German phrase "was ist das?" ("what is that?"); hence folk etymology ascribes its origin to a visiting German's reaction to seeing a transom during a trip to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

History

In early Gothic ecclesiastical work, transoms are only found in belfry unglazed windows or spire

Spire

A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....

 lights, where they were deemed necessary to strengthen the mullion

Mullion

A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...

s in the absence of the iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 stay bars, which in glazed windows served a similar purpose. In the later Gothic, and more especially the Perpendicular Period, the introduction of transoms became common in windows of all kinds.

Transom windows which could be opened to provide cross-ventilation while maintaining security and privacy (due to their small size and height above floor level) were a common feature of office buildings and apartments before air conditioning became common.

Idiomatic usage

• The phrase over the transom refers to works submitted for publication
  Publication
  To publish is to make content available to the public. While specific use of the term may vary among countries, it is usually applied to text, images, or other audio-visual content on any medium, including paper or electronic publishing forms such as websites, e-books, Compact Discs and MP3s...
  
   without being solicited
  Solicitation
  Literally, solicitation means: 'urgently asking'. It is the action or instance of soliciting; petition; proposal. In criminal law, it most commonly refers to either the act of offering goods or services, or the act of attempting to purchase such goods or services...
  
  . The image evoked is of a writer tossing a manuscript
  Manuscript
  A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
  
   through the open window over the door of the publisher's office.

• Similarly, the phrase is used to describe the means by which confidential documents, information or tips were delivered anonymously to someone who is not officially supposed to have them.

• "Like pushing a piano through a transom" is a folk idiom used to describe something exceedingly difficult; its application to childbirth (and possibly its origin) has been attributed to Alice Roosevelt Longworth
  Alice Roosevelt Longworth
  Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....
  
   and Fannie Brice.

Japan

Architectural details called are often found above doors in traditional Japanese houses and buildings. These details can be anything from simple shōji

Shoji

In traditional Japanese architecture, a shōji is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a lattice of wood or bamboo...

-style dividers to elaborate wooden carvings.

See also

• Mullion
  Mullion
  A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
  
  
• Roof lantern
  Roof lantern
  A roof lantern is a daylighting cupola architectural element. Architectural lanterns are atop a larger roof and provide natural light into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an architectural skylight structure...
  
  
• Sidelight
  Sidelight
  A sidelight is a window, usually with a vertical emphasis, that flanks a door. Sidelights are narrow, usually stationary and found immediately adjacent doorways...
  
  
• Skylight
• Fortochka
  Fortochka
  A Fortochka is a small ventilation window. It usually spans the frame of one window pane and opens on hinges independently of the whole window. Fortochkas are in common use in Russia, other post-Soviet states, and Finland....