A tale of two Skopos theories

Abstract Conceptual theories are generally understood as more or less static models that provide an argumentative basis for a scholar’s work. They present their intellectual genealogies through citation and referencing by which they are connected to existing works. The purpose of this article is to promote an alternative understanding, namely, that theories be treated as historical phenomena, which are influenced by space and time and are therefore constantly changing. Using the theoretical works of Hans J. Vermeer and Andrei V. Fedorov as examples, the article will trace their respective handling of secondary sources, their roots, and connect them to the subsequent circulation of these theories, their routes. In so doing, we suggest a more complex and unpredictable relationship between the roots and routes of theoretical models.