diff --git a/documentation/src/main/docbook/manual/en-US/content/query_criteria.xml b/documentation/src/main/docbook/manual/en-US/content/query_criteria.xml
index 51cdc10353..466a14da11 100644
--- a/documentation/src/main/docbook/manual/en-US/content/query_criteria.xml
+++ b/documentation/src/main/docbook/manual/en-US/content/query_criteria.xml
@@ -250,7 +250,26 @@ while ( iter.hasNext() ) {
         </para>
     
     </section>
-     
+
+    <section>
+        <title>Components</title>
+
+        <para>
+               To add a restriction against a property of an embedded component, the component property
+               name should be prepended to the property name when creating the <literal>Restriction</literal>.
+               The criteria object should be created on the owning entity, and cannot be created on the component 
+               itself.  For example, suppose the <literal>Cat</literal> has a component property <literal>fullName</literal>
+               with sub-properties <literal>firstName</literal> and <literal>lastName</literal>:
+	</para>
+
+	<programlisting><![CDATA[
+		List cats = session.createCriteria(Cat.class)
+			.add(Restrictions.eq("fullName.lastName", "Cattington"))
+			.list();]]>
+	</programlisting>
+	
+    </section>
+
     <section id="querycriteria-examples">
         <title>Example queries</title>
 
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/criteria/CriteriaQueryTranslator.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/criteria/CriteriaQueryTranslator.java
index 4e784f0196..abae77f85b 100755
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/criteria/CriteriaQueryTranslator.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/criteria/CriteriaQueryTranslator.java
@@ -269,7 +269,11 @@ public class CriteriaQueryTranslator implements CriteriaQuery {
 				componentPath = "";
 			}
 			else if ( type.isComponentType() ) {
-				componentPath += '.';
+				if (!tokens.hasMoreTokens()) {
+					throw new QueryException("Criteria objects cannot be created directly on components.  Create a criteria on owning entity and use a dotted property to access component property: "+path);
+				} else {
+					componentPath += '.';
+				}
 			}
 			else {
 				throw new QueryException( "not an association: " + componentPath );