#    Repl   = { "abb"=>"replacement" }
    # Whenever an abbreviation could potentially refer to two different
    # strings (M standing for Minutes or Months), the abbreviation must
    # be listed in Repl instead of in the appropriate Xabb values.  This
    # only applies to abbreviations which are substrings of other values
    # (so there is no confusion between Mn and Month).

    Date_InitStrings($lang{"years"}  ,\$Lang{$L}{"Yabb"}, "lc,sort");
    Date_InitStrings($lang{"months"} ,\$Lang{$L}{"Mabb"}, "lc,sort");
    Date_InitStrings($lang{"weeks"}  ,\$Lang{$L}{"Wabb"}, "lc,sort");
    Date_InitStrings($lang{"days"}   ,\$Lang{$L}{"Dabb"}, "lc,sort");
    Date_InitStrings($lang{"hours"}  ,\$Lang{$L}{"Habb"}, "lc,sort");
    Date_InitStrings($lang{"minutes"},\$Lang{$L}{"MNabb"},"lc,sort");
    Date_InitStrings($lang{"seconds"},\$Lang{$L}{"Sabb"}, "lc,sort");
    $Lang{$L}{"Repl"}={};
    Date_InitHash($lang{"replace"},undef,"lc",$Lang{$L}{"Repl"});

    #  variables for special dates that are offsets from now
    #    Now      = "now"
    #    Today    = "today"
    #    Offset   = "(yesterday|tomorrow)"
    #    OffsetH  = { "yesterday"=>"-0:0:0:1:0:0:0",... ]
    #    Times    = "(noon|midnight)"
    #    TimesH   = { "noon"=>"12:00:00","midnight"=>"00:00:00" }
    #    SepHM    = hour/minute separator
    #    SepMS    = minute/second separator
    #    SepSS    = second/fraction separator

    $Lang{$L}{"TimesH"}={};
    Date_InitHash($lang{"times"},
                   \$Lang{$L}{"Times"},"lc,sort,back",
                   $Lang{$L}{"TimesH"});
    Date_InitStrings($lang{"now"},\$Lang{$L}{"Now"},"lc,sort");
    Date_InitStrings($lang{"today"},\$Lang{$L}{"Today"},"lc,sort");
    $Lang{$L}{"OffsetH"}={};
    Date_InitHash($lang{"offset"},
                   \$Lang{$L}{"Offset"},"lc,sort,back",
                   $Lang{$L}{"OffsetH"});
    $Lang{$L}{"SepHM"}=$lang{"sephm"};
    $Lang{$L}{"SepMS"}=$lang{"sepms"};
    $Lang{$L}{"SepSS"}=$lang{"sepss"};

    #  variables for time zones
    #    zones      = regular expression with all zone names (EST)
    #    n2o        = a hash of all parsable zone names with their offsets
    #    tzones     = reguar expression with all tzdata timezones (US/Eastern)
    #    tz2z       = hash of all tzdata timezones to full timezone (EST#EDT)

    $zonesrfc=
      "idlw   -1200 ".  # International Date Line West
      "nt     -1100 ".  # Nome
      "hst    -1000 ".  # Hawaii Standard
      "cat    -1000 ".  # Central Alaska
      "ahst   -1000 ".  # Alaska-Hawaii Standard
      "akst   -0900 ".  # Alaska Standard
      "yst    -0900 ".  # Yukon Standard
      "hdt    -0900 ".  # Hawaii Daylight
      "akdt   -0800 ".  # Alaska Daylight
      "ydt    -0800 ".  # Yukon Daylight
      "pst    -0800 ".  # Pacific Standard
      "pdt    -0700 ".  # Pacific Daylight
      "mst    -0700 ".  # Mountain Standard
      "mdt    -0600 ".  # Mountain Daylight
      "cst    -0600 ".  # Central Standard
      "cdt    -0500 ".  # Central Daylight
      "est    -0500 ".  # Eastern Standard
      "act    -0500 ".  # Brazil, Acre
      "pet    -0500 ".  # Peruvian time
      "sat    -0400 ".  # Chile
      "clst   -0400 ".  # Chile Standard
      "bot    -0400 ".  # Bolivia
      "amt    -0400 ".  # Brazil, Amazon
      "acst   -0400 ".  # Brazil, Acre Daylight
      "edt    -0400 ".  # Eastern Daylight
      "ast    -0400 ".  # Atlantic Standard
      #"nst   -0330 ".  # Newfoundland Standard      nst=North Sumatra    +0630
      "nft    -0330 ".  # Newfoundland
      #"gst   -0300 ".  # Greenland Standard         gst=Guam Standard    +1000
      "cldt   -0300 ".  # Chile Daylight
      #"bst   -0300 ".  # Brazil Standard            bst=British Summer   +0100
      "brt    -0300 ".  # Brazil Standard (official time)
      #"brst   -0300 ".  # Brazil Standard
      "adt    -0300 ".  # Atlantic Daylight
      "art    -0300 ".  # Argentina
      "amst   -0300 ".  # Brazil, Amazon Daylight
      "uyt    -0300 ".  # Uruguay
      "ndt    -0230 ".  # Newfoundland Daylight
      "brst   -0200 ".  # Brazil Daylight (official time)
      "fnt    -0200 ".  # Brazil, Fernando de Noronha
      "at     -0200 ".  # Azores
      "yust   -0200 ".  # Uruguay
      "wat    -0100 ".  # West Africa
      "fnst   -0100 ".  # Brazil, Fernando de Noronha Daylight
      "gmt    +0000 ".  # Greenwich Mean
      "ut     +0000 ".  # Universal
      "utc    +0000 ".  # Universal (Coordinated)
      "wet    +0000 ".  # Western European
      "cet    +0100 ".  # Central European
      "fwt    +0100 ".  # French Winter
      "met    +0100 ".  # Middle European