diff --git a/src/Type.cc b/src/Type.cc
index bb67b2fbbe..f9857fe9cb 100644
--- a/src/Type.cc
+++ b/src/Type.cc
@@ -2673,6 +2673,31 @@ TypePtr merge_types(const TypePtr& arg_t1, const TypePtr& arg_t2)
 		}
 	}
 
+TypePtr merge_type_list(detail::ListExpr* elements)
+	{
+	TypeList* tl_type = elements->GetType()->AsTypeList();
+	const auto& tl = tl_type->GetTypes();
+
+	if ( tl.size() < 1 )
+		{
+		reporter->Error("no type can be inferred for empty list");
+		return nullptr;
+		}
+
+	auto t = tl[0];
+
+	if ( tl.size() == 1 )
+		return t;
+
+	for ( size_t i = 1; t && i < tl.size(); ++i )
+		t = merge_types(t, tl[i]);
+
+	if ( ! t )
+		reporter->Error("inconsistent types in list");
+
+	return t;
+	}
+
 TypePtr maximal_type(detail::ListExpr* elements)
 	{
 	TypeList* tl_type = elements->GetType()->AsTypeList();
diff --git a/src/Type.h b/src/Type.h
index d775207637..1c7b719ada 100644
--- a/src/Type.h
+++ b/src/Type.h
@@ -928,6 +928,12 @@ extern TypeTag max_type(TypeTag t1, TypeTag t2);
 // an error message) if the types are incompatible.
 TypePtr merge_types(const TypePtr& t1, const TypePtr& t2);
 
+// Given a list of expressions, returns a (ref'd) type reflecting
+// a merged type consistent across all of them, or nil if this
+// cannot be done.
+[[deprecated("Remove in v6.1. Use maximal_type() if possible. See GH-2604.")]] TypePtr
+merge_type_list(detail::ListExpr* elements);
+
 // Given a list of expressions, returns the maximal type consistent across
 // all of them, or nil if this cannot be done.  "Maximal" incorporates
 // notions of arithmetic coercion, but otherwise requires type-equivalence.