diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 54ac9f2f9f..cb7bd1dc23 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -1775,6 +1775,7 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/rocm-opencl-runtime-4.3-noclinfo.patch \
   %D%/packages/patches/rocm-opencl-runtime-4.3-noopencl.patch \
   %D%/packages/patches/ruby-anystyle-data-immutable-install.patch	\
+  %D%/packages/patches/ruby-anystyle-fix-dictionary-populate.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/ruby-latex-decode-fix-test.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/ruby-mustache-1.1.1-fix-race-condition-tests.patch \
   %D%/packages/patches/ruby-sanitize-system-libxml.patch	\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/ruby-anystyle-fix-dictionary-populate.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/ruby-anystyle-fix-dictionary-populate.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b2e0498e8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/ruby-anystyle-fix-dictionary-populate.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+From fae622c8b77feebac66a538d76e4211de8bd8eb3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Philip McGrath <philip@philipmcgrath.com>
+Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2022 21:50:44 -0400
+Subject: [PATCH] fix saving `AnyStyle::Dictionary` after `populate!`
+
+Some of these fixes are more generally applicable.
+
+A more robust solution might find data files using
+e.g. `Gem.find_files()`.
+---
+ lib/anystyle/dictionary/gdbm.rb    |  6 ++++++
+ lib/anystyle/dictionary/marshal.rb | 31 ++++++++++++++++++++++++------
+ 2 files changed, 31 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/lib/anystyle/dictionary/gdbm.rb b/lib/anystyle/dictionary/gdbm.rb
+index 754903c..c814df2 100644
+--- a/lib/anystyle/dictionary/gdbm.rb
++++ b/lib/anystyle/dictionary/gdbm.rb
+@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+ module AnyStyle
+   require 'gdbm'
++  require 'fileutils'
+ 
+   class Dictionary
+     class GDBM < Dictionary
+@@ -17,8 +18,13 @@ module AnyStyle
+ 
+       def open
+         close
++        FileUtils.mkdir_p(File.dirname(options[:path]))
+         @db = ::GDBM.new(*options.values_at(:path, :mode, :flags))
+         self
++      rescue Errno::EACCES
++        # GDBM.new tries this if :flags is nil, but not necessarily otherwise
++        @db = ::GDBM.new(options[:path],options[:mode],::GDBM::READER)
++        self
+       ensure
+         populate! if empty?
+       end
+diff --git a/lib/anystyle/dictionary/marshal.rb b/lib/anystyle/dictionary/marshal.rb
+index 761ca36..b9529d0 100644
+--- a/lib/anystyle/dictionary/marshal.rb
++++ b/lib/anystyle/dictionary/marshal.rb
+@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+ module AnyStyle
++  require 'fileutils'
++  require 'tempfile'
+   class Dictionary
+     class Marshal < Dictionary
+       @defaults = {
+@@ -10,17 +12,34 @@ module AnyStyle
+       end
+ 
+       def open
+-        if File.exists?(options[:path])
+-          @db = ::Marshal.load(File.open(options[:path]))
+-        else
+-          @db = {}
++        File.open(options[:path]) do |file|
++          @db = ::Marshal.load(file)
+         end
+         self
++      rescue Errno::ENOENT
++        @db = {}
++        self
+       ensure
+         if empty?
+           populate!
+-          if File.writable?(options[:path])
+-            ::Marshal.dump(db, File.open(options[:path], 'wb'))
++          tmp = nil
++          begin
++            FileUtils.mkdir_p(File.dirname(options[:path]))
++            tmp = Tempfile.create(File.basename(options[:path]),
++                                  File.dirname(options[:path]),
++                                  mode: File::Constants::BINARY)
++            pth = tmp.path()
++            ::Marshal.dump(db, tmp)
++            tmp.close()
++            File.rename(tmp.path, options[:path]) # will overwrite if exists
++            tmp = nil
++          rescue SystemCallError => e
++            warn(e.message)
++          ensure
++            if tmp then
++              tmp.close()
++              tmp.unlink()
++            end
+           end
+         end
+       end
+-- 
+2.32.0
+
diff --git a/gnu/packages/ruby.scm b/gnu/packages/ruby.scm
index 32ba09d283..608b1ebe89 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/ruby.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/ruby.scm
@@ -13514,6 +13514,9 @@ (define-public ruby-anystyle
                      (substitute* "spec/anystyle/parser_spec.rb"
                        (("language: 'en'," orig)
                         (string-append "# " orig " # no lanugage_detector")))))
+                (patches
+                 (search-patches
+                  "ruby-anystyle-fix-dictionary-populate.patch"))
                 (file-name (git-file-name name version))))
       (build-system ruby-build-system)
       (propagated-inputs
@@ -13543,7 +13546,33 @@ (define-public ruby-anystyle
               (lambda args
                 (substitute* "anystyle.gemspec"
                   (("`git ls-files spec`")
-                   "`find spec -type f | sort`")))))))
+                   "`find spec -type f | sort`"))))
+            (add-after 'wrap 'populate-dictionaries
+              (lambda args
+                ;; We must initiallize these files here, or they will never be
+                ;; usable with the default settings. A more flexible approach
+                ;; might use something like `Gem.find_files()` or
+                ;; XDG_DATA_DIRS.
+                (with-output-to-file "initialize-dictionaries.rb"
+                  (lambda ()
+                    (display "
+require 'anystyle/dictionary' # must come before 'anystyle/data'
+require 'anystyle/data'
+[:marshal, :gdbm].each do |adapter|
+  AnyStyle::Dictionary.create({adapter: adapter}).open().close()
+end
+")))
+                (let* ((old-gems (getenv "GEM_PATH"))
+                       (new-gems (string-append #$output
+                                                "/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby:"
+                                                old-gems)))
+                  (dynamic-wind
+                    (lambda ()
+                      (setenv "GEM_PATH" new-gems))
+                    (lambda ()
+                      (invoke "ruby" "initialize-dictionaries.rb"))
+                    (lambda ()
+                      (setenv "GEM_PATH" old-gems)))))))))
       (home-page "https://anystyle.io")
       (synopsis "Fast and smart citation reference parsing (Ruby library)")
       (description
