2 files changed, 20 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller/translation.rb b/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller/translation.rb
index 6d68cf4944..b6c484d188 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller/translation.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller/translation.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 module AbstractController
   module Translation
     def translate(*args)
+      key = args.first
+      if key.is_a?(String) && (key[0] == '.')
+        key = "#{ controller_path.gsub('/', '.') }.#{ action_name }#{ key }"
+        args[0] = key
+      end
+
       I18n.translate(*args)
     end
     alias :t :translate
@@ -10,4 +16,4 @@ module AbstractController
     end
     alias :l :localize
   end
-end
-\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/abstract/translation_test.rb b/actionpack/test/abstract/translation_test.rb
index 0194ee943f..99064a8b87 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/abstract/translation_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/abstract/translation_test.rb
@@ -23,4 +23,17 @@ class TranslationControllerTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
   def test_action_controller_base_responds_to_l
     assert_respond_to @controller, :l
   end
+
+  def test_lazy_lookup
+    expected = 'bar'
+    @controller.stubs(:action_name => :index)
+    I18n.stubs(:translate).with('action_controller.base.index.foo').returns(expected)
+    assert_equal expected, @controller.t('.foo')
+  end
+
+  def test_default_translation
+    key, expected = 'one.two' 'bar'
+    I18n.stubs(:translate).with(key).returns(expected)
+    assert_equal expected, @controller.t(key)
+  end
 end