In 1859, prominent British naturalist Charles Darwin publishes On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life (or OS). In this book, Darwin introduces his theory of evolution (TE), which has been shrouded in controversy since its inception. Yet, despite the book’s profound impact on the world at large, its French translations have rarely been studied. The few existing studies have focussed on translations by Clémence Royer, a controversial translator infamous for having coopted Darwin’s writings to serve a more radical agenda. But the fact remains that the canonical French translation of the OS is the one by Edmond Barbier, not Royer; three translators, two contemporary to Darwin and one modern, have also translated the book. Therefore, we aim to compare and contrast these various French translations with their original text and amongst each other on the basis of hedges, epistemic modality markers that attenuate the degree of certainty associated with a statement. We wish to determine how each translator has expressed epistemic modality in his/her text and show that the modern translation is closest to the original. Unexpectedly, Royer’s translation, long decried by critics, is closer to Moulinié’s and Barbier’s translations than previously anticipated.