1630年代，atmosphaera（1670年代的现代形式）意为“围绕地球的气体层”，源自现代拉丁语atmosphaera，而拉丁语又来自希腊语atmos，意为“蒸汽，水汽”（参见atmo-），加上sphaira，意为“球体”（参见sphere）。在古代科学中，这个词指的是“蒸汽状空气”，被认为是地球的一部分，是下层air（名词1）的污染物。
Þe ouer partye of þe eyr is pure and clene, clere, esy & softe, ffor mevynge of stormys, of wynde and of wedir may nat reche þerto; and so it perteyneþ to heuenlych kynde. And þe neþir partye is nyʒe to þe spere of watir and of erþe, and is troubly, greet and þicke, corpulent and ful of moyst erþy vapoures, as longiþ to erþy partyes. Þe eyr strecchiþ hym kyndely al aboute fro þe ouer partye of þe erþe and of watir anon to þe spere of fire. [John of Trevisa, translation (late 14c.) of Bartholomew Glanville's "De proprietatibus rerum"]
空气的上层是纯净、清澈、柔和的，风暴、风和天气的运动无法触及，因此它属于天上的本质。而下层则接近水和土的领域，浑浊、浓厚、肥沃，充满了泥土的潮湿蒸汽，这些都是大地的特性。空气自然地从地球和水的上层延伸到火的领域。[约翰·特雷维萨，巴塞洛缪·格兰维尔的《事物的性质》晚期14世纪英文翻译]
这个词最早在英语中与月球相关联，结果发现月球几乎没有大气层。
'Tis Observed, in the Solary Eclipses, that there is some times a great Trepidation about the Body of the Moon, from which we may likewise argue an Atmo-sphaera, since we cannot well conceive what so probable a cause there should be of such an appearance as this, Quod radii Solares a vaporibus Lunam ambientibus fuerint intercisi, that the Sun-beams were broken and refracted by the Vapours that encompassed the Moon. [Rev. John Wilkins, "Discovery of New World or Discourse tending to prove that it probable there may be another World in the Moon," 1638]
在日食中，人们观察到月球周围有时会出现剧烈的颤动，这也让我们推测月球可能有一层大气层，因为我们很难想象有什么合理的原因能解释这种现象，Quod radii Solares a vaporibus Lunam ambientibus fuerint intercisi，即阳光被环绕月球的蒸汽折射和阻断了。[约翰·威尔金斯牧师，《新世界的发现或论证月球上可能存在另一个世界的讨论》，1638年]
“包围性的影响，心理或道德环境”的比喻意义大约出现在1800年左右。
