donum

Donum, doni, n., second declension, straight off do, dare. Beside it sits the first-conjugation verb dono, donare, "to present", and the two constructions it allows are a standing trap: you may say donum alicui dare, gift in the accusative and person in the dative, or donare aliquem dono, person in the accusative and gift in the ablative. Both are correct and they invert each other.

Munus overlaps but is not the same. A munus is owed - a duty, an office, a public show a magistrate is obliged to lay on - while a donum is freely given. In church Latin dona are the offerings brought to the altar and the gifts of the Spirit. English donation, donor, condone, and pardon by way of Late Latin perdonare and French pardonner.