diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
index d8d5fdf7b52..31df3926e24 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def configure_args(self):
             '--with-included-gettext',
             '--with-included-libcroco',
             '--without-emacs',
-            '--with-lispdir=%s/emacs/site-lisp/gettext' % prefix.share,
+            '--with-lispdir=%s/emacs/site-lisp/gettext' % self.prefix.share,
             '--without-cvs'
         ]