diff --git a/src/Encoding.cpp b/src/Encoding.cpp
index 69437bf2f5..c3f56e8986 100644
--- a/src/Encoding.cpp
+++ b/src/Encoding.cpp
@@ -494,7 +494,15 @@ docstring Encodings::fromLaTeXCommand(docstring const & cmd, docstring & rem)
 				tmp.resize(tmp.size() - 1);
 
 			// If this is an exact match, we found a (longer)
-			// matching command in the unicodesymbols file
+			// matching entry in the unicodesymbols file.
+			// If the entry doesn't start with '\', we take note
+			// of the match and continue (this is not a ultimate
+			// acceptance, as some other entry may match a longer
+			// portion of the cmd string). However, if the entry
+			// does start with '\', we accept the match only if
+			// this is a valid macro, i.e., either it is a single
+			// (nonletter) char macro, or nothing else follows,
+			// or what follows is a nonletter char.
 			if ((math == tmp || text == tmp)
 			    && (tmp[0] != '\\'
 				   || (tmp.size() == 2 && !isAlphaASCII(tmp[1]))