shotgun shack, shotgun house, railroad flat, etc

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 18:58:36 -0400, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

>> > Shotgun shack (Not in OED)
>>
>>[...]
>>
>> > Shotgun house (Not in OED)
>>
>>[...]
>>
>>Actually, both are in OED, covered by _shot-gun_ sense 3.b.,
>>"Designating a house or other building with rooms set in a
>>line on either side of a long central hallway," which has
>>cites for ~ dwelling house, ~ building, ~ house, ~ shanty,
>>and ~ shack.
>>
>>But we're way late on this, with the first quot. only from
>>1938.
>
>Is "shotgun" really used for a building with a central hall?
>
>I think the dwellings which I've heard referred to as "shotgun
>houses/apartments/etc." generally had rooms in a row from front to back
>(no hall at all).
>
>Surely the lowliest "shotgun shack" cannot be typified by any sort of
>long hallway ... or any hallway ... or anything very long ... I wouldn't
>think.

Yes, I think the AHD definition is a bit more accurate: "A house whose
architecture is characterized by several rooms joined in a straight line
from the front to the back." AHD cites one Melissa O. Fryauf (who?) as
saying, "Shotguns [are] so named because a shotgun fired through the front
door of these long, narrow homes could pass straight through the house and
out the back door without hitting any barriers."

http://www.bartleby.com/61/77/S0367700.html

But I've also seen the claim that this usage of "shotgun" is an alteration
of "togun", Yoruba for "house", or of "shogun", Yoruba for "God's house":

http://www.arts.state.al.us/actc/articles/shotgun.htm

Crying Wolof again? It seems well-accepted that the architectural style
has West African origins, though that of course is a separate matter from
the etymology of the term.


--Ben Zimmer