This article attempts to sketch out an essential aspect of the Vedic ritual tradition commonly called “Atharvaveda”: its marginality with respect to the Śrau-ta-tradition among the various ritual modes practiced by the community of Vedic, and later Brahmin, priests. This marginality has never truly wavered, from Vedic times until today, despite the late “canonization” of the Atharvaveda and various attempts at its promotion. The idea that the Atharvaveda is not on the same level as the R̥ g-, Sāma-, and Yajur- Vedas is familiar to most, but we would add that the Atharvaveda has carried distinctively negative connotations within Vedic priestly culture from the beginning of its history. The evidence for this argument is organ-ized in five sections: 1, the Atharvaveda’s late inclusion in a closed group with the R̥ g-, Sāma-, and Yajur- Vedas; 2, the derogatory designations, or the negative conno-tations which the various designations of the Atharvaveda have carried, and this tradition’s history of attempts to rename itself; 3, the marginal and impure status of the medical profession, a specialty of the Atharvaveda, in the period of the Yajurve-dic Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas; 4, the ritual inferiority of other groups associated with the Atharvaveda; 5, the persistent marginality and inferiority of the Athar-vaveda in the post-Vedic period.