Get ready to rock trivia night because you are going to not only know the double definitions of the word caldarium, but you'll forever store it in your brain next to the fact that most toilets flush in E-flat.

What is a Caldarium and why is it part of a bath + beauty company's name?

In late 2008, I spent over two months wearing down anyone who'd listen with ideas for naming what is now Bathhouse Soapery & Caldarium. The names I presented were exclusive, extravagant and a bit pretentious - everything I wanted my customers to feel.

BATHHOUSE Soapery -&- Caldarium

After a squeaky teeter-tottering of impeccable AND imperfect suggestions, this is how the word caldarium evolved into being a "tattoo it, let's do it" part of our business being. Equally interesting is the knowledge gained about what a caldarium is and how it inspired Bathhouse Row in the U.S.

I chose "Bathhouse" because the inspiration to open Bathhouse's first retail boutique occurred in Hot Springs, the Spa City, known for Bathhouse Row and the eight historic structures on our treasure of a National Park.

"Soapery" was chosen to describe what Bathhouse is / sells because I didn't want visitors to mistake us as an actual bathhouse spa.

Then I discovered the word "Caldarium"

I was searching for a word to describe my soap kitchen, because the title should also include the point that we craft our exquisite bathing luxuries in-house. The kitchen didn't flow as much as I'd liked, even though it would be cohesive to name it a room in a house - or a bathhouse. I poured over everything about bathhouses and what they meant to Egyptian, Roman, Greek, English, and American societies. Then I saw it...CALDARIUM. This word blew my bubble. It resembled "cauldron," which most people think I use when making soap; it also had a purposeful meaning related to my new venture. To read and say the word caldarium felt exclusive, extravagant, and a bit pretentious, per the goal above.

The definitions of Caldarium are...

The technical definition of a caldarium is "a hot plunge bath in bathhouses of different cultures in antiquity". Roman baths also had a cold plunge known as a frigidarium (another bullet in your trivia night arsenal). The frigidarium would be entered after the caldarium to open and close pores and to bring on an utterly euphoric sensation of renewal. Versions of this spa treatment are used in our famous Hot Springs' spas today.

The non-techinical / alternate definition of a caldarium is "Bathhouse's soap kitchen, studio, cauldron, etc.". This second, more illusory meaning of the word was everything I had hoped to discover while naming Bathhouse.