diff --git a/gdb/ChangeLog b/gdb/ChangeLog
index 6d13c798de..df5e8bf666 100644
--- a/gdb/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+Sep 20 08:42:12 1992  Fred Fish  (fnf@cygnus.com)
+
+	* main.c (main):  Back out previous language setting changes.
+	Replace with simple default to C before processing any init
+	files.  There MUST be a language set, even in the absence of
+	init files or executables, or expression parsing fails.
+
 Sat Sep 19 09:52:26 1992  Fred Fish  (fnf@cygnus.com)
 
 	* main.c (main):  Move code that sets initial language to
diff --git a/gdb/main.c b/gdb/main.c
index b2643f5d34..4b68f7f2d4 100644
--- a/gdb/main.c
+++ b/gdb/main.c
@@ -685,6 +685,11 @@ GDB manual (available as on-line info or a printed manual).\n", stderr);
   /* We may get more than one warning, don't double space all of them... */
   warning_pre_print = "\nwarning: ";
 
+  /* We need a default language for parsing expressions, so simple things like
+     "set width 0" won't fail if no language is explicitly set in a config file
+     or implicitly set by reading an executable during startup. */
+  set_language (language_c);
+
   /* Read and execute $HOME/.gdbinit file, if it exists.  This is done
      *before* all the command line arguments are processed; it sets
      global parameters, which are independent of what file you are
@@ -699,8 +704,6 @@ GDB manual (available as on-line info or a printed manual).\n", stderr);
       strcat (homeinit, gdbinit);
       if (!inhibit_gdbinit && access (homeinit, R_OK) == 0)
 	{
-	  /* The official language of expressions in $HOME/.gdbinit is C. */
-	  set_language (language_c);
 	  if (!setjmp (to_top_level))
 	    source_command (homeinit, 0);
 	}
@@ -794,9 +797,6 @@ GDB manual (available as on-line info or a printed manual).\n", stderr);
       || memcmp ((char *) &homebuf, (char *) &cwdbuf, sizeof (struct stat)))
     if (!inhibit_gdbinit && access (gdbinit, R_OK) == 0)
       {
-	/* If no language has been set yet, default to C. */
-	if (current_language->la_language == language_unknown)
-	  set_language (language_c);
 	if (!setjmp (to_top_level))
 	  source_command (gdbinit, 0);
       }
@@ -804,10 +804,6 @@ GDB manual (available as on-line info or a printed manual).\n", stderr);
 
   for (i = 0; i < ncmd; i++)
     {
-      /* If no language has been set yet, default to C.  For consistency with
-         other places, we redo this each time before sourcing commands. */
-      if (current_language->la_language == language_unknown)
-	set_language (language_c);
       if (!setjmp (to_top_level))
 	{
 	  if (cmdarg[i][0] == '-' && cmdarg[i][1] == '\0')