diff --git a/src/rcldb/rcldb.cpp b/src/rcldb/rcldb.cpp
index 22ab241d..0f8dc4ec 100644
--- a/src/rcldb/rcldb.cpp
+++ b/src/rcldb/rcldb.cpp
@@ -677,6 +677,10 @@ public:
 	// and remember relative.
 	m_ts->curpos = pos;
 	pos += m_ts->basepos;
+	// Don't try to add empty term Xapian doesnt like it... Safety check
+	// this should not happen.
+	if (term.empty())
+	    return true;
 	string ermsg;
 	try {
 	    // Index without prefix, using the field-specific weighting
diff --git a/src/rcldb/termproc.h b/src/rcldb/termproc.h
index dcd095f0..33c18f89 100644
--- a/src/rcldb/termproc.h
+++ b/src/rcldb/termproc.h
@@ -131,7 +131,14 @@ public:
 	    }
 	    return true;
 	}
-	return TermProc::takeword(otrm, pos, bs, be);
+	// It may happen in some weird cases that the output from unac is 
+	// empty (if the word actually consisted entirely of diacritics ...)
+	// The consequence is that a phrase search won't work without addional
+	// slack. 
+	if (otrm.empty())
+	    return true;
+	else
+	    return TermProc::takeword(otrm, pos, bs, be);
     }
 
     virtual bool flush()