The word perfume given to today derives from the Latin "per fumum", meaning through smoke. Perfumery, or the profession of management perfumes, began in elderly Mesopotamia and Egypt but was developed and further refined by the Romans and Persians. Although perfume and perfumery also existed in East Asia, much of its fragrances are incense based.

The world's first recorded chemist is designful to be a fellow named Tapputi, a perfume maker who was mentioned in a cuneiform tablet Discount Perfume from the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia.