diff --git a/lib/database-private.h b/lib/database-private.h
index f206efaf..85d55299 100644
--- a/lib/database-private.h
+++ b/lib/database-private.h
@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@ struct _notmuch_database {
      */
     unsigned long view;
     Xapian::QueryParser *query_parser;
+    Xapian::Stem *stemmer;
     Xapian::TermGenerator *term_gen;
     Xapian::RangeProcessor *value_range_processor;
     Xapian::RangeProcessor *date_range_processor;
diff --git a/lib/open.cc b/lib/open.cc
index 280ffee3..8a835e98 100644
--- a/lib/open.cc
+++ b/lib/open.cc
@@ -432,7 +432,8 @@ _finish_open (notmuch_database_t *notmuch,
 									      "lastmod:");
 	notmuch->query_parser->set_default_op (Xapian::Query::OP_AND);
 	notmuch->query_parser->set_database (*notmuch->xapian_db);
-	notmuch->query_parser->set_stemmer (Xapian::Stem ("english"));
+	notmuch->stemmer = new Xapian::Stem ("english");
+	notmuch->query_parser->set_stemmer (*notmuch->stemmer);
 	notmuch->query_parser->set_stemming_strategy (Xapian::QueryParser::STEM_SOME);
 	notmuch->query_parser->add_rangeprocessor (notmuch->value_range_processor);
 	notmuch->query_parser->add_rangeprocessor (notmuch->date_range_processor);