diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index 24ee1dc702..91408b8e62 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -8573,7 +8573,7 @@ origin Reference
 
 @item @code{recursive?} (default: @code{#f})
 This Boolean indicates whether to recursively fetch Subversion
-sub-modules.
+``externals''.
 
 @item @code{user-name} (default: @code{#f})
 The name of an account that has read-access to the repository, if the