Dei = of God
donum = gift

I don't have my dictionaries with me, but I think you can rely on this translation. In Latin the genitive, as in English, goes first.

Let's see whether other colleagues agree.

paola l m


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Note added at 2002-03-07 00:55:54 (GMT)
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Silvia makes a good point, and I thank her for raising the issue. The genitive does **not always** precede the noun. I should have said that it often precedes the noun in poetic inversion. I had not done a Google search with \"dei donum\" but I did now out of curiosity and I elicited some 10 Google pages. Here are some relevant examples:
bibliotheca Augustana - [ Translate this page ]
... videri timeo, | quia utrumque nefas esse non ambigo, | et gratuitum dei donum negare,
| et non acceptum accepisse simulare. | unde non denego praestante gratia ...
www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/hro_de.html - 6k - Cached - Similar pages

bibliotheca Augustana - [ Translate this page ]
... potestatis officia, et iubent utramque honore afficere et agnoscere, utramque
dei donum et beneficium esse. [19] si quam habent episcopi potestatem gladii ...
www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/mel_ca28.html - 17k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.fh-augsburg.de ]
PipeChat Digest #386 - 05/23/98
... Please note that ORGAN was mentioned to keep on topic) Karl Musica est Dei donum
optimi On Fri, 22 May 1998 20:25:58 -0500 \"Glenda\" <[email protected] ...
www.pipechat.org/archives/1998/may/digest386.html - 15k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.pipechat.org ]

Catechismum Catholicae Ecclesiae - In tempore Ecclesiae - [ Translate this page ]
... exprimit motum: eadem Dei et hominis est occursus; in ea Dei donum et hominis
acceptio sese vocant seseque coniungunt. Benedictionis oratio est hominis ...
www.vatican.va/archive/catechism_lt/p4s1c1a3_lt.htm - 18k - Cached - Similar pages
And last, but not least, St. Augustine:
St. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica, Prima Pars Quaestio XXXVIII - [ Translate this page ]
... dicit enim Augustinus, XV De Trin., quod Spiritus Sanctus ita datur sicut Dei
donum, ut etiam seipsum det sicut Deus. Ergo donum non est nomen personale. ...
www.gmu.edu/departments/fld/CLASSICS/aquinas.q1.38.html - 9k -

paola l m

according to: divine gift