TFTP put works with files in pwd but fails with absolutely pathed filenames

The following command works as expected:

tftp <tftp_server_name> -c put some_file

However, the following command fails:

tftp <tftp_server_name> -c put /absolute/path/to/some_file

And, the error message is different for different files. Sometimes it reads

Error code 1: File not found

and sometimes it reads

tftp: some_file: No such file or directory

tftp -V reports:

tftp-hpa 5.0, without readline

in.tftpd -V reports:

tftp-hpa 5.2, with remap, with tcpwrappers

tftpd is configured with --create and --secure. TFTP_DIRECTORY is set to a directory that is rwx for everyone and is owned by the "nobody" user. The server is running on Debian wheezy, the client is running on Debian squeeze.