The notion that atheism did not exist in medieval Western Europe has long influenced perceptions of the temporal divide between medieval and modern. Underpinning this is the fact that the word ‘atheism’ only came to prominence in European vernacular languages in the sixteenth century. However, this article demonstrates that medieval Latin embedded a variety of terms and phrases with which writers discussed or repudiated the notion of a godless cosmos. Therefore, if theoretical atheism was not a popular perspective in medieval Europe, questions of terminology and linguistics cannot be the reason for this. Rather, social and psychological principles must be sought.