diff --git a/lisp/vc/vc-git.el b/lisp/vc/vc-git.el
index a1ff03144bc..38e9d5f9c91 100644
--- a/lisp/vc/vc-git.el
+++ b/lisp/vc/vc-git.el
@@ -1325,7 +1325,7 @@ If LIMIT is a revision string, use it as an end-revision."
                     ,(format "--pretty=tformat:%s"
                              (car vc-git-root-log-format))
                     "--abbrev-commit"))
-                vc-git-log-switches
+                (ensure-list vc-git-log-switches)
                 (when (numberp limit)
                   (list "-n" (format "%s" limit)))
 		(when start-revision