The Lancet medical journal was named to "cut out dead tissue from the medical establishment" — and the same diminutive of lance names both a surgeon's knife and Gothic architecture's pointed windows.
A small, broad, pointed surgical knife used for making incisions; a narrow, pointed arch or window characteristic of early Gothic architecture.
From Old French lancette, diminutive of lance (lance, spear), from Latin lancea (light spear, lance), possibly from a Celtic or Iberian source. A lancet is literally a little lance — whether a surgeon's cutting instrument or an architect's narrow pointed arch. Key roots: lancea (Latin (possibly from Celtic): "light
The Lancet, one of the world's most prestigious medical journals, takes its name from the surgical lancet — its founder Thomas Wakley chose the name in 1823 because he wanted the journal to be "a lancet to cut out the dead tissue of the medical establishment." Lancet windows are the signature feature of Early English Gothic architecture (c. 1180-1275), and the Five Sisters