Help with the word 'seconded'

I just know someone here will be able to give me the truth about the word sě-cŏn-ded. I work in an educational institution and we often sě-cŏn-d people to other positions. In essence we borrow someone to fulfill a role within the system that may be open due to a vacancy, or may be a temporary opportunity.

I don’t think it’s a word peculiar to unionized organizations (although ours is) and I don’t think it’s directly related to the word ‘second’, due to the pronunciation and no obvious relationship to the meaning of the word second.

Is it used only in the educational world? Can anyone enlighten me? Unless I’m completely dense today, I don’t find reference to it in the dictionary.

Thanks in advance for fighting my ignorance.

According to m-w.com

I only know it second hand, from military parlance.

My mother used it in the Ontarian civil service: she was seconded from her usual job as a caseworker at the Ministry of Community and Social Services to work for nine months in a mental hospital.

And yes, in this case, it was pronounced “se-KON-ded”, with the emphasis on the second syllable.

Yes, it’s quite a common term in Canadian government, right across the country, as best I can recall.

The M-W site above implies the first syllable is “si-”, like “sick” rather than “set”. Does it sound that way?

It does when I say it.

Not the way we said it. It was definitely “se” as in “set”.

Same here.

I never heard it used till I moved to Canada. It is pronounced with a schwa in the first syllable and stressed on the second. It is very definitely pronunced differently from the verb used to be the second proposer of a motion (which is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable), even in Canada. I have heard it used in a number of contexts in which a person moves termporarily from his regular position to fill one elsewhere.

Thanks everyone, I knew you’d give me great answers. I too am in Ontario -

Thanks for the help!

I’m curious about something. Does it never happen in the States, that, say, somebody in the FBI goes to work for a year in the U.S. Attorney’s office? If so, what’s it called, if the term “secondment” is unknown?

I’ve never heard “secondment” used, but I have heard other terms, such as “temporary reassignment” or “loaning out.” I’ve heard someone say, “I’m a loaner.”

Very common term in the UK, and across European institutions where English is the common language. See here, the European Fusion Development Agreement website

Huh. Must be an Ontario pronunciation, Rube. Round here, the “e” is almost non-existent, to put the emphasis on “cond” - I pronounce it “s’conded”.

Well, in my experience, those types of pronunciations can vary in a county, let alone across country. I’d say, though, that all in all the Ontario pronunciation generally enunciates vowel sounds a bit more strongly than is typical in Saskatchewan.

Yeah, I’ve heard it too; lots of superemphasized vowels – prOcess, intrEsting, ecOnomy, etc.

Midwestern American here; I’ve never heard “seconded” used as set forth by the OP. The only “seconded” I know is in parliamentary procedure, said after someone says “I move that [whatever action by the group is being proposed].”

Otherwise, what acsenray said.

Lifelong US resident here. I have hear “seCONDment” and “seCONDed” used to refer to someone on assignment at a different location than their usual; however, this was when we were doing a project at the UN back in the early 90s. I haven’t heard of it at any US clients (this was in New York, but the vast majority of people we dealt with were from other countries). I’m guessing it’s more of a British-English term than an American-English one.