diff --git a/src/support/docstring.C b/src/support/docstring.C
index fb3115ba9a..382612071a 100644
--- a/src/support/docstring.C
+++ b/src/support/docstring.C
@@ -68,3 +68,40 @@ bool operator==(lyx::docstring const & l, char const * r)
 	}
 	return r[len] == '\0';
 }
+
+
+lyx::docstring operator+(lyx::docstring const & l, char const * r)
+{
+	lyx::docstring s(l);
+	for (char const * c = r; *c; ++c) {
+		BOOST_ASSERT(static_cast<unsigned char>(*c) < 0x80);
+		s.push_back(*c);
+	}
+	return s;
+}
+
+
+lyx::docstring operator+(char const * l, lyx::docstring const & r)
+{
+	lyx::docstring s;
+	for (char const * c = l; *c; ++c) {
+		BOOST_ASSERT(static_cast<unsigned char>(*c) < 0x80);
+		s.push_back(*c);
+	}
+	s += r;
+	return s;
+}
+
+
+lyx::docstring operator+(lyx::docstring const & l, char r)
+{
+	BOOST_ASSERT(static_cast<unsigned char>(r) < 0x80);
+	return l + lyx::docstring::value_type(r);
+}
+
+
+lyx::docstring operator+(char l, lyx::docstring const & r)
+{
+	BOOST_ASSERT(static_cast<unsigned char>(l) < 0x80);
+	return lyx::docstring::value_type(l) + r;
+}
diff --git a/src/support/docstring.h b/src/support/docstring.h
index 831289c1fc..a17d4832d6 100644
--- a/src/support/docstring.h
+++ b/src/support/docstring.h
@@ -47,6 +47,19 @@ inline bool operator!=(lyx::docstring const & l, char const * r) { return !(l ==
 /// Compare a C string of ASCII characters with a docstring
 inline bool operator!=(char const * l, lyx::docstring const & r) { return !(r == l); }
 
+/// Concatenate a docstring and a C string of ASCII characters
+lyx::docstring operator+(lyx::docstring const &, char const *);
+
+/// Concatenate a C string of ASCII characters and a docstring
+lyx::docstring operator+(char const *, lyx::docstring const &);
+
+/// Concatenate a docstring and a single ASCII character
+lyx::docstring operator+(lyx::docstring const & l, char r);
+
+/// Concatenate a single ASCII character and a docstring
+lyx::docstring operator+(char l, lyx::docstring const & r);
+
+
 #if defined(__GNUC__) && defined(__GNUC_MINOR__) && __GNUC__ == 3 && __GNUC_MINOR__ < 4
 // Missing char_traits methods in gcc 3.3 and older. Taken from gcc 4.2svn.
 namespace std {