diff --git a/src/mathed/MathStream.cpp b/src/mathed/MathStream.cpp
index b2d01cfb68..774e964a8d 100644
--- a/src/mathed/MathStream.cpp
+++ b/src/mathed/MathStream.cpp
@@ -708,6 +708,12 @@ docstring convertDelimToXMLEscape(docstring const & name)
 			return from_ascii(">");
 		else
 			return name;
+	} else if (name.size() == 2 && name[0] == '\\') {
+		char_type const c = name[1];
+		if (c == '{')
+			return from_ascii("{");
+		else if (c == '}')
+			return from_ascii("}");
 	}
 	MathWordList const & words = mathedWordList();
 	MathWordList::const_iterator it = words.find(name);