diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index 4cf99490ce5..a4908017a28 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -104,6 +104,11 @@ files that were compiled with an old EIEIO (Emacs<25).
 ** 'C-x 8 .' has been moved to 'C-x 8 . .'.
 This is to open up the 'C-x 8 .' map to bind further characters there.
 
+---
+** 'source' and '.' in Eshell no longer accept the '--help' option.
+This is for compatibility with the shell versions of these commands,
+which don't handle options like '--help' in any special way.
+
 
 * Changes in Emacs 29.1
 
diff --git a/lisp/eshell/em-script.el b/lisp/eshell/em-script.el
index e8459513f39..e0bcd8b099f 100644
--- a/lisp/eshell/em-script.el
+++ b/lisp/eshell/em-script.el
@@ -113,27 +113,13 @@ Comments begin with `#'."
 
 (defun eshell/source (&rest args)
   "Source a file in a subshell environment."
-  (eshell-eval-using-options
-   "source" args
-   '((?h "help" nil nil "show this usage screen")
-     :show-usage
-     :usage "FILE [ARGS]
-Invoke the Eshell commands in FILE in a subshell, binding ARGS to $1,
-$2, etc.")
-   (eshell-source-file (car args) (cdr args) t)))
+  (eshell-source-file (car args) (cdr args) t))
 
 (put 'eshell/source 'eshell-no-numeric-conversions t)
 
 (defun eshell/. (&rest args)
   "Source a file in the current environment."
-  (eshell-eval-using-options
-   "." args
-   '((?h "help" nil nil "show this usage screen")
-     :show-usage
-     :usage "FILE [ARGS]
-Invoke the Eshell commands in FILE within the current shell
-environment, binding ARGS to $1, $2, etc.")
-   (eshell-source-file (car args) (cdr args))))
+  (eshell-source-file (car args) (cdr args)))
 
 (put 'eshell/. 'eshell-no-numeric-conversions t)