Y’all, translate the phrase “accounting for (on behalf of/ answerable to) God.” Here’s my attempt: CONTABILITATIS DEI. Is that about right?
Gratia vobis y’all!
First of all, politeness & (some) propriety seem to go a long way here.
Your attempt is not right; both words are/would be in the genitive. If you are guessing from e.g. Italian contabilità (‘accounting’ sure - as in taxes), the assumed nominative *contabilitas does not appear to be attested in non-medieval Latin.
Dei causā = for God’s sake. Not the English interjection, but ‘done for the sake or on account of God,’ ‘almost always referring to the future, and implying a purpose,’ according to Lewis & Short.
Gratia tibi, LS.
How about CONTABILITAS DEO? DEO here is in the final dative because He is the purpose of the accounting activity.
BTW, didn’t mean to sound rude w/ my peremptory and familiar tone. It was meant to be amicable. We TX/LA Cajuns “tu-toi” our friends or those whom we would like so to be, but when we hear “vous-vous” we reach for the Bowie or the Colt in our mind’s eye. Pls pardon me, anyone who took offense. And I did say gratia vobis didn’t I? 