diff --git a/lisp/net/rcirc.el b/lisp/net/rcirc.el
index e34b7c79..19f54a8e 100644
--- a/lisp/net/rcirc.el
+++ b/lisp/net/rcirc.el
@@ -794,26 +794,34 @@ (defun rcirc-buffer-nick (&optional buffer)
 (defvar rcirc-max-message-length 420
   "Messages longer than this value will be split.")
 
+(defun rcirc-split-message (message)
+  (with-temp-buffer
+    (insert message)
+    (goto-char (point-min))
+    (let (result)
+      (while (not (eobp))
+	(goto-char (or (byte-to-position rcirc-max-message-length)
+		       (point-max)))
+	(while (and (not (bobp))
+		    (> (length
+			(encode-coding-region (point-min) (point)
+					      rcirc-encode-coding-system t))
+		       rcirc-max-message-length))
+	  (forward-char -1))
+	(push (delete-and-extract-region (point-min) (point)) result))
+      (nreverse result))))
+
 (defun rcirc-send-message (process target message &optional noticep silent)
   "Send TARGET associated with PROCESS a privmsg with text MESSAGE.
 If NOTICEP is non-nil, send a notice instead of privmsg.
 If SILENT is non-nil, do not print the message in any irc buffer."
   ;; max message length is 512 including CRLF
-  (let* ((response (if noticep "NOTICE" "PRIVMSG"))
-         (oversize (> (length message) rcirc-max-message-length))
-         (text (if oversize
-                   (substring message 0 rcirc-max-message-length)
-                 message))
-         (text (if (string= text "")
-                   " "
-                 text))
-         (more (if oversize
-                   (substring message rcirc-max-message-length))))
+  (let ((response (if noticep "NOTICE" "PRIVMSG")))
     (rcirc-get-buffer-create process target)
-    (rcirc-send-string process (concat response " " target " :" text))
-    (unless silent
-      (rcirc-print process (rcirc-nick process) response target text))
-    (when more (rcirc-send-message process target more noticep))))
+    (dolist (msg (rcirc-split-message message))
+      (rcirc-send-string process (concat response " " target " :" msg))
+      (unless silent
+	(rcirc-print process (rcirc-nick process) response target msg)))))
 
 (defvar rcirc-input-ring nil)
 (defvar rcirc-input-ring-index 0)
-- 
1.7.9.6 (Apple Git-31.1)