diff --git a/src/middleware/header.js b/src/middleware/header.js
index d90fcaedb4..a606b0f19a 100644
--- a/src/middleware/header.js
+++ b/src/middleware/header.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
+var path = require('path');
 var async = require('async');
 var nconf = require('nconf');
 var jsesc = require('jsesc');
@@ -14,7 +15,9 @@ var plugins = require('../plugins');
 var navigation = require('../navigation');
 var translator = require('../translator');
 var privileges = require('../privileges');
+var languages = require('../languages');
 var utils = require('../utils');
+var file = require('../file');
 
 var controllers = {
 	api: require('../controllers/api'),
@@ -223,11 +226,6 @@ module.exports = function (middleware) {
 		], callback);
 	};
 
-	function addTimeagoLocaleScript(scripts, userLang) {
-		var languageCode = utils.userLangToTimeagoCode(userLang);
-		scripts.push({ src: nconf.get('relative_path') + '/assets/vendor/jquery/timeago/locales/jquery.timeago.' + languageCode + '.js' });
-	}
-
 	middleware.renderFooter = function renderFooter(req, res, data, callback) {
 		async.waterfall([
 			function (next) {
@@ -240,15 +238,35 @@ module.exports = function (middleware) {
 			function (data, next) {
 				async.parallel({
 					scripts: async.apply(plugins.fireHook, 'filter:scripts.get', []),
+					timeagoLocale: (next) => {
+						const userLang = res.locals.config.userLang;
+						const pathToLocaleFile = '/vendor/jquery/timeago/locales/jquery.timeago.' + utils.userLangToTimeagoCode(userLang) + '.js';
+
+						async.waterfall([
+							async.apply(languages.list),
+							(languages, next) => {
+								if (!languages.some(obj => obj.code === userLang)) {
+									return next(null, false);
+								}
+
+								file.exists(path.join(__dirname, '../../public', pathToLocaleFile), next);
+							},
+							(exists, next) => {
+								next(null, exists ? (nconf.get('relative_path') + '/assets' + pathToLocaleFile) : null);
+							},
+						], next);
+					},
 				}, function (err, results) {
 					next(err, data, results);
 				});
 			},
 			function (data, results, next) {
+				if (results.timeagoLocale) {
+					results.scripts.push(results.timeagoLocale);
+				}
 				data.templateValues.scripts = results.scripts.map(function (script) {
 					return { src: script };
 				});
-				addTimeagoLocaleScript(data.templateValues.scripts, res.locals.config.userLang);
 
 				data.templateValues.useCustomJS = meta.config.useCustomJS;
 				data.templateValues.customJS = data.templateValues.useCustomJS ? meta.config.customJS : '';
diff --git a/src/middleware/index.js b/src/middleware/index.js
index 44f2ff346b..896ddbf76c 100644
--- a/src/middleware/index.js
+++ b/src/middleware/index.js
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ var plugins = require('../plugins');
 var meta = require('../meta');
 var user = require('../user');
 var groups = require('../groups');
-var file = require('../file');
 
 var analytics = require('../analytics');
 
@@ -174,29 +173,6 @@ middleware.applyBlacklist = function applyBlacklist(req, res, next) {
 	});
 };
 
-middleware.processTimeagoLocales = function processTimeagoLocales(req, res, next) {
-	var fallback = !req.path.includes('-short') ? 'jquery.timeago.en.js' : 'jquery.timeago.en-short.js';
-	var localPath = path.join(__dirname, '../../public/vendor/jquery/timeago/locales', req.path);
-
-	async.waterfall([
-		function (next) {
-			file.exists(localPath, next);
-		},
-		function (exists, next) {
-			if (exists) {
-				next(null, localPath);
-			} else {
-				next(null, path.join(__dirname, '../../public/vendor/jquery/timeago/locales', fallback));
-			}
-		},
-		function (path) {
-			res.status(200).sendFile(path, {
-				maxAge: req.app.enabled('cache') ? 5184000000 : 0,
-			});
-		},
-	], next);
-};
-
 middleware.delayLoading = function delayLoading(req, res, next) {
 	// Introduces an artificial delay during load so that brute force attacks are effectively mitigated
 
diff --git a/src/routes/index.js b/src/routes/index.js
index 8ac8ee2d43..40abf06e42 100644
--- a/src/routes/index.js
+++ b/src/routes/index.js
@@ -187,7 +187,6 @@ function addCoreRoutes(app, router, middleware, callback) {
 		res.redirect(relativePath + '/assets/client.css?' + meta.config['cache-buster']);
 	});
 
-	app.use(relativePath + '/assets/vendor/jquery/timeago/locales', middleware.processTimeagoLocales);
 	app.use(controllers['404'].handle404);
 	app.use(controllers.errors.handleURIErrors);
 	app.use(controllers.errors.handleErrors);
diff --git a/test/controllers.js b/test/controllers.js
index 83a54e50ec..2e101b9d87 100644
--- a/test/controllers.js
+++ b/test/controllers.js
@@ -1807,11 +1807,18 @@ describe('Controllers', function () {
 			});
 		});
 
-		it('should load timeago locale', function (done) {
-			request(nconf.get('url') + '/assets/vendor/jquery/timeago/locales/jquery.timeago.404.js', function (err, res, body) {
+		it('should return not found if NodeBB language exists but timeago locale does not exist', function (done) {
+			request(nconf.get('url') + '/assets/vendor/jquery/timeago/locales/jquery.timeago.ms.js', function (err, res, body) {
 				assert.ifError(err);
-				assert.equal(res.statusCode, 200);
-				assert(body.includes('English'));
+				assert.equal(res.statusCode, 404);
+				done();
+			});
+		});
+
+		it('should return not found if NodeBB language does not exist', function (done) {
+			request(nconf.get('url') + '/assets/vendor/jquery/timeago/locales/jquery.timeago.muggle.js', function (err, res, body) {
+				assert.ifError(err);
+				assert.equal(res.statusCode, 404);
 				done();
 			});
 		});