diff --git a/src/fileio.c b/src/fileio.c
index 3c13d3fe416..7e3bebca9e6 100644
--- a/src/fileio.c
+++ b/src/fileio.c
@@ -2386,7 +2386,9 @@ permissions.  */)
 
   if (!NILP (keep_time))
     {
-      struct timespec ts[] = { get_stat_atime (&st), get_stat_mtime (&st) };
+      struct timespec ts[2];
+      ts[0] = get_stat_atime (&st);
+      ts[1] = get_stat_mtime (&st);
       if (futimens (ofd, ts) != 0)
 	xsignal2 (Qfile_date_error,
 		  build_string ("Cannot set file date"), newname);