This paper deals with the use of original sources in mathematics education, with emphasis on preservice teachers' education and the exploration of historical texts. In this context, there is a real challenge, for both teachers and learners, to conduct both 'synchronic' and 'diachronic' reading. As reported extensively in research, learners seem to have a strong propensity to focus on and to 'translate' the texts into modern mathematics, which makes it difficult to deepen both their understanding of history and their own set of conceptualizations. Rather than propose practical solutions, in the paper we explore a theoretical positioning that may help us think differently about these difficulties and, ultimately, provide articulated and different avenues for interventions. Drawing on the philosophy of language of Mikhaïl Bakhtin and Valentin Voloshinov, the idea is to question the Saussurean perspective that underpins the notions of synchrony and diachrony. From this theoretical perspective, we propose to think about the challenges associated with the reading of historical texts in terms of the ethical stance of answerability and engagement in the context of preservice mathematics teachers' education, and we suggest envisioning a third possible reading, namely, that of the educator.