This article looks for some answers to the question What is hermeneutics?, focusing particularly on the relationships between hermeneutics and history. The author begins by examining the history of hermeneutics, tracing it back to its etymological origins in ancient Greece, moving on to Biblical hermeneutics and Schleiermacher and Dilthey, and reaching Heidegger's and Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics as well as Karl-Otto Apel's approach within the philosophy of language. The boundaries between hermeneutics and history are discussed next by Reinhart Koselleck. Distinctions are drawn between hermeneutics and history are discussed next, based especially on a text by Reinhart Koselleck. Distinctions are drawn between the advantages and risks that hermeneutics poses in the field of history.Este artigo busca algumas das respostas à pergunta "O que é hermenêutica?" e concentra-se especialmente na relação entre a hermenêutica e a história. Em um primeiro momento, a autora percorre a "história da hermenêutica", recuando às suas origens etimológicas na Grécia antiga e passando pela hermenêutica bíblica, por Schleiermacher e por Dilthey, até chegar à hermenêutica filosófica de Heidegger e Gadamer e à abordagem de Karl-Otto Apel, no campo da filosofia da linguagem. Em seguida, discute as fronteiras entre a hermenêutica e a história, principalmente com base em texto de Reinhart Koselleck, e procura distinguir as vantagens e os riscos da hermenêutica no campo da história.