diff --git a/src/frontend/define.c b/src/frontend/define.c
index 0cf15ee31..94be14b95 100644
--- a/src/frontend/define.c
+++ b/src/frontend/define.c
@@ -337,35 +337,25 @@ trcopy(struct pnode *tree, char *args, struct pnode *nn)
         } else
             return (tree);
     } else if (tree->pn_func) {
-        struct func *func;
-
-        func = alloc(struct func);
-        func->fu_name = copy(tree->pn_func->fu_name);
-        func->fu_func = tree->pn_func->fu_func;
 
         pn = alloc(struct pnode);
         pn->pn_value = NULL;
-        pn->pn_func = func;
+        /* pn_func are pointers to a global constant struct */	
+        pn->pn_func = tree->pn_func;
         pn->pn_op = NULL;
         pn->pn_left = trcopy(tree->pn_left, args, nn);
         pn->pn_right = NULL;
         pn->pn_next = NULL;
 
     } else if (tree->pn_op) {
-        struct op *op;
-
-        op = alloc(struct op);
-        op->op_num = tree->pn_op->op_num;
-        op->op_arity = tree->pn_op->op_arity;
-        op->op_func = tree->pn_op->op_func;
-        op->op_name = copy(tree->pn_op->op_name);
 
         pn = alloc(struct pnode);
         pn->pn_value = NULL;
         pn->pn_func = NULL;
-        pn->pn_op = op;
+        /* pn_op are pointers to a global constant struct */	
+        pn->pn_op = tree->pn_op;
         pn->pn_left = trcopy(tree->pn_left, args, nn);
-        if (op->op_arity == 2)
+        if (pn->pn_op->op_arity == 2)
             pn->pn_right = trcopy(tree->pn_right, args, nn);
 	else
             pn->pn_right = NULL;
diff --git a/src/frontend/parse.c b/src/frontend/parse.c
index 62eaaa581..3fb03d27c 100644
--- a/src/frontend/parse.c
+++ b/src/frontend/parse.c
@@ -863,14 +863,9 @@ free_pnode(struct pnode *t)
     free_pnode(t->pn_left);
     free_pnode(t->pn_right);
     free_pnode(t->pn_next);
-     tfree(t->pn_name); /* va: it is a copy() of original string, can be free'd */
-    /* va: tfree struct func, allocated within parser */
-//    if (t->pn_func!=NULL) {
-//    	tfree(t->pn_func->fu_name); /* va: name is a copy of original string */
-//    	tfree(t->pn_func);    	    /* va: t->pn_func->fu_func must not tfree'd */
-//    }
+     tfree(t->pn_name);
     if (t->pn_value)
-        vec_free(t->pn_value); /* patch by Stefan Jones */   
+        vec_free(t->pn_value);
     tfree(t);
 }