The movement of theories belongs both to the history and the sociology of disciplines, especially to their institutionalization. Epistemology should also be added here, though sometimes disguised as the History of Ideas, sometimes labelled as the Philosophy of Science. One of the major paradoxes, or even contradictions, in translation studies (TS) seems to be the double bind of opening borders and establishing limits—hence the simultaneous struggle for interdisciplinarity and for hyper-specialized compartmentalization. The field has yet to acknowledge the fragmented nature of its origins, traditions and filiations. To date, the dissemination of TS, along with its different paradigms and approaches, has become visible through certain concepts such as “age, turn, meme, and model” among other ways. This paper examines certain conditions underlying the development of a historiography of TS. In particular, it insists on the relevance of a media history of translation.