diff --git a/runtime/syntax/svn.vim b/runtime/syntax/svn.vim
index fc0e211..83803e3 100644
--- a/runtime/syntax/svn.vim
+++ b/runtime/syntax/svn.vim
@@ -2,14 +2,15 @@
 " Language:     Subversion (svn) commit file
 " Maintainer:   Dmitry Vasiliev <dima at hlabs dot org>
 " URL:          https://github.com/hdima/vim-scripts/blob/master/syntax/svn.vim
-" Last Change:  2012-04-15
+" Last Change:  2012-07-21
 " Filenames:    svn-commit*.tmp
-" Version:      1.8
+" Version:      1.9
 
 " Contributors:
 "   Stefano Zacchiroli
 "   A. S. Budden
 "   Myk Taylor
+"   Ingo Karkat
 
 " For version 5.x: Clear all syntax items.
 " For version 6.x: Quit when a syntax file was already loaded.
@@ -19,7 +20,9 @@
   finish
 endif
 
-syn region svnRegion    start="^--.*--$" end="\%$" contains=ALL contains=@NoSpell
+syn region svnText      start="\%^" end="^--.*--$"me=s-1 contains=@Spell
+
+syn region svnRegion    start="^--.*--$" end="\%$" contains=ALL
 syn match svnRemoved    "^D    .*$" contained
 syn match svnRenamed    "^R[ M][ U][ +] .*$" contained
 syn match svnAdded      "^A[ M][ U][ +] .*$" contained