secondment 復習
The vast Carillion construction and public services group was fighting for survival this weekend as management, the government and lenders to the stricken construction services firm were locked in rescue talks.
The company is bleeding cash from several contracts that have turned sour and it is struggling under the weight of £1.5bn of debt, including a huge £590m pension deficit.
Professor Karel Williams at Manchester University noted that Carillion had turned from a construction company into an outsourcing conglomerate, which was, he said, “a bad idea”. ...
A collapse would be disastrous for the government and, potentially, costly to the public purse.
The threat to Carillion is so acute that audit heavyweight EY was placed on standby on Friday to step in as administrator if banks and the government could not thrash out a deal to save the firm.
EY was said to be favoured by the company’s directors, possibly because Lee Watson, a partner at the audit giant, is on secondment to Carillion, acting as a director and as the contractor’s chief transformation officer. (Skip the rest)
今回取り上げる語は、secondment /sikɑ́n(d)mənt/ です。LDOCEをみると、”a period of time that you spend away from your usual job, either doing another job or studying” とあり、OEDをみると、”The temporary transfer of an official or worker to another position or employment.” と定義されてました。また、『ジーニアス英和辞典』(大修館)をみると、「(...からの)一時配置換え」と意味があります。また同書に “be on secondment to ...” 「...へ一時配置換えされている」と用法が書かれており、今回の記事もこの用法であることがわかります。
次に語源を確認します。Collins English Dictionary をみると、”C19: from French en second in second rank (or position)” と記載されています。(OkaUchi)
