diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index 703dd1ff9e..d8c4b1f892 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -89,6 +89,41 @@ sub gitvar_ident {
 my ($author) = gitvar_ident('GIT_AUTHOR_IDENT');
 my ($committer) = gitvar_ident('GIT_COMMITTER_IDENT');
 
+my %aliases;
+chomp(my @alias_files = `git-repo-config --get-all sendemail.aliasesfile`);
+chomp(my $aliasfiletype = `git-repo-config sendemail.aliasfiletype`);
+my %parse_alias = (
+	# multiline formats can be supported in the future
+	mutt => sub { my $fh = shift; while (<$fh>) {
+		if (/^alias\s+(\S+)\s+(.*)$/) {
+			my ($alias, $addr) = ($1, $2);
+			$addr =~ s/#.*$//; # mutt allows # comments
+			 # commas delimit multiple addresses
+			$aliases{$alias} = [ split(/\s*,\s*/, $addr) ];
+		}}},
+	mailrc => sub { my $fh = shift; while (<$fh>) {
+		if (/^alias\s+(\S+)\s+(.*)$/) {
+			# spaces delimit multiple addresses
+			$aliases{$1} = [ split(/\s+/, $2) ];
+		}}},
+	pine => sub { my $fh = shift; while (<$fh>) {
+		if (/^(\S+)\s+(.*)$/) {
+			$aliases{$1} = [ split(/\s*,\s*/, $2) ];
+		}}},
+	gnus => sub { my $fh = shift; while (<$fh>) {
+		if (/\(define-mail-alias\s+"(\S+?)"\s+"(\S+?)"\)/) {
+			$aliases{$1} = [ $2 ];
+		}}}
+);
+
+if (@alias_files && defined $parse_alias{$aliasfiletype}) {
+	foreach my $file (@alias_files) {
+		open my $fh, '<', $file or die "opening $file: $!\n";
+		$parse_alias{$aliasfiletype}->($fh);
+		close $fh;
+	}
+}
+
 my $prompting = 0;
 if (!defined $from) {
 	$from = $author || $committer;
@@ -112,6 +147,19 @@ if (!@to) {
 	$prompting++;
 }
 
+sub expand_aliases {
+	my @cur = @_;
+	my @last;
+	do {
+		@last = @cur;
+		@cur = map { $aliases{$_} ? @{$aliases{$_}} : $_ } @last;
+	} while (join(',',@cur) ne join(',',@last));
+	return @cur;
+}
+
+@to = expand_aliases(@to);
+@initial_cc = expand_aliases(@initial_cc);
+
 if (!defined $initial_subject && $compose) {
 	do {
 		$_ = $term->readline("What subject should the emails start with? ",