diff --git a/builtin/submodule--helper.c b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
index 33f099dbc8..fefedcf809 100644
--- a/builtin/submodule--helper.c
+++ b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
@@ -2831,9 +2831,6 @@ static int absorb_git_dirs(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	struct pathspec pathspec = { 0 };
 	struct module_list list = MODULE_LIST_INIT;
 	struct option embed_gitdir_options[] = {
-		OPT_STRING(0, "prefix", &prefix,
-			   N_("path"),
-			   N_("path into the working tree")),
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 	const char *const git_submodule_helper_usage[] = {
diff --git a/git-submodule.sh b/git-submodule.sh
index 5e5d21c010..d359f17137 100755
--- a/git-submodule.sh
+++ b/git-submodule.sh
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ cmd_sync()
 
 cmd_absorbgitdirs()
 {
-	git submodule--helper absorbgitdirs --prefix "$wt_prefix" "$@"
+	git ${wt_prefix:+-C "$wt_prefix"} submodule--helper absorbgitdirs "$@"
 }
 
 # This loop parses the command line arguments to find the