An anonymous alchemist argued in 1926 that the word "gothic" does not come from the Goths. It comes from argot — the secret language of initiates. Gothic cathedrals are buildings written in slang. The gargoyles are sentences. The rose windows are chapters. Only the adepts can read the book.

He also argued that the cathedral floor plan — the Latin cross — is the alchemical hieroglyph of the crucible. "It is in the crucible that the first matter, like Christ himself, suffers the Passion; it is in the crucible that it dies in order to resuscitate afterwards, purified, spiritualized, already transformed."

The argotiers — the ones who speak this slang — are "hermetic descendants of the Argonauts, who rode the ship Argo, spoke the slang language while sailing towards the fortunate shores of Colchos to conquer the famous Golden Fleece." The quest for gold has always been a quest for language.