diff --git a/C/adtdefs.c b/C/adtdefs.c
index 6b8651b25..ab90eb529 100755
--- a/C/adtdefs.c
+++ b/C/adtdefs.c
@@ -1175,6 +1175,7 @@ Yap_StringToDiffList(char *s, Term t)
 {
   register unsigned char *cp = (unsigned char *)s + strlen(s);
 
+ t = Yap_Globalise(t);
   while (cp > (unsigned char *)s) {
     t = MkPairTerm(MkIntTerm(*--cp), t);
   }
@@ -1186,6 +1187,7 @@ Yap_NStringToDiffList(char *s, Term t, size_t len)
 {
   register unsigned char *cp = (unsigned char *)s + len;
 
+  t = Yap_Globalise(t);
   while (cp > (unsigned char *)s) {
     t = MkPairTerm(MkIntTerm(*--cp), t);
   }
@@ -1197,6 +1199,7 @@ Yap_WideStringToDiffList(wchar_t *s, Term t)
 {
  wchar_t *cp = s + wcslen(s);
 
+  t = Yap_Globalise(t);
   while (cp > s) {
     t = MkPairTerm(MkIntegerTerm(*--cp), t);
   }
@@ -1208,6 +1211,7 @@ Yap_NWideStringToDiffList(wchar_t *s, Term t, size_t len)
 {
  wchar_t *cp = s + len;
 
+ t = Yap_Globalise(t);
   while (cp > s) {
     t = MkPairTerm(MkIntegerTerm(*--cp), t);
   }
@@ -1286,7 +1290,7 @@ Yap_NWideStringToDiffListOfAtoms(wchar_t *s, Term t0, size_t len)
   wchar_t *cp = s + len;
 
   so[1] = '\0';
-  t = t0;
+  t = Yap_Globalise(t0);
   while (cp > s) {
     so[0] = *--cp;
     t = MkPairTerm(MkAtomTerm(LookupWideAtom(so)), t);
diff --git a/C/other.c b/C/other.c
index 890863d6a..e87a6a541 100644
--- a/C/other.c
+++ b/C/other.c
@@ -100,3 +100,18 @@ Yap_MkNewApplTerm(Functor f, unsigned int n)
 }
 
 
+Term
+Yap_Globalise(Term t)
+{
+  CELL *vt;
+  Term tn;
+
+  if (!IsVarTerm(t))
+    return t;
+  vt = VarOfTerm(t);
+  if (vt <= H && vt > H0)
+    return t;
+  tn = MkVarTerm();
+  Yap_unify(t, tn);
+  return tn;
+}
diff --git a/H/Yapproto.h b/H/Yapproto.h
index 898809d71..4231cb006 100755
--- a/H/Yapproto.h
+++ b/H/Yapproto.h
@@ -295,6 +295,7 @@ void    STD_PROTO(Yap_InitMPE,(void));
 Term	STD_PROTO(Yap_MkApplTerm,(Functor,unsigned int,Term *));
 Term	STD_PROTO(Yap_MkNewApplTerm,(Functor,unsigned int));
 Term	STD_PROTO(Yap_MkNewPairTerm,(void));
+Term	STD_PROTO(Yap_Globalise,(Term));
 
 
 /* parser.c */