diff --git a/src/cp.c b/src/cp.c
index c420e8ff7..2e3aabf39 100644
--- a/src/cp.c
+++ b/src/cp.c
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ re_protect (const char *const_dst_path, int src_offset,
 
       if ((*(x->xstat)) (src_path, &src_sb))
 	{
-	  error (0, errno, _("obtaining file attributes of %s"),
+	  error (0, errno, _("obtaining attributes of %s"),
 		 quote (src_path));
 	  return 1;
 	}