Secunde, noun

/seˈkʊndə/
Forms:
Also Secundu’s, Secundus, and with small initial.
Origin:
Dutch, LatinShow more Dutch, from Latin secundus second.
historical
The deputy governor (or second-in-command) at the Cape under the Dutch East India Company; also used as a title, with a name. Rarely, used attributively in the phrase Secunde Persoon [Dutch persoon person] (see quotation 1857).
1796 C.R. Hopson tr. of C.P. Thunberg’s Trav. II. 40It took its name from Mr Zwellingrebel, who was at that time vice-governor, or Secundu’s (Tweede) at the Cape.
1843 Ordinance for Repealing Church Reg. in Stat. Law of Cape of G.H. (1862) 616The meeting elects in the same manner, a secundus, who acts as assessor for the president, and in case of indisposition occupies his place.
1857 Cape Monthly Mag. II. Sept. 155The honourable the ‘Secunde Persoon,’ Samuel Elzevier (the colonial secretary of the day)..bore the treasure in triumph to the Governor’s residence.
1858 ‘F.’ in Cape Monthly Mag. III. Mar. 149Mr. Hemmy, the ‘secundus,’..was also a German, from Bremen.
1881 Cape Monthly Mag. IV. Jan. 3For a long time the Secunde Cornelis de Cretzer had been the most active member of the Cape government.
1899 G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. V. 2The late secunde — Johan Isaac Rhenius — was offered and accepted the office of receiver and treasurer general.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 274We are at the gates of Elsenburg and I see the Secunde waiting on the stoep to greet us.
1926 P.W. Laidler Tavern of Ocean 21Up to August, 1653, Johan van Riebeeck was alone in command...There was no one to act as Commander’s deputy in case of his illness. Convinced of his fitness, Van Riebeeck appointed the Junior Merchant Jacob Reyniersz to be ‘Secunde’.
1926 P.W. Laidler Tavern of Ocean 28Mrs. Fothergill, widow of Secunde Swellengrebel.
1949 M.W. Spilhaus in A.C. Partridge Lives, Lett. & Diaries (1971) 17The Secunde, — The Governor (Commander) at the Cape was chairman of the Administrative body the Council of Policy, with supreme judicial powers at the Station. In his absence the chair was taken by the commander of the garrison called the Secunde (i.e. second in charge).
1952 G.M. Mills First Ladies of Cape 26Contained the house of the Commander.., the Secunde’s house and several others.
1952 G.M. Mills First Ladies of Cape 53So unpopular and so disliked by the colonists,..[he] transferred the administration to the Secunde Rhenius three months after he had received his instructions.
1987 G. Viney Col. Houses 59He was rich — probably very rich — after nine years as Secunde, for in the last days of Company rule official corruption reached a perfectly disgraceful level.
The deputy governor (or second-in-command) at the Cape under the Dutch East India Company; also used as a title, with a name. Rarely, used attributively in the phrase Secunde Persoon [Dutch persoon person] (see quotation 1857).
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Section 29, noun phrasen. phr.securocrat, nounn.
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