nitrogen

English nitrogen was borrowed from French nitrogène, a term coined in 1790 by the French chemist and physician Jean-Antoine Chaptal. The word breaks down as nitro- + -gen, pointing back toward niter, the mineral compound that first hinted at this element's existence.

The facts available don't describe a shift in meaning — the word seems to have entered English essentially as Chaptal defined it in French, naming the same element it does today.

It's related to niter, the substance whose name supplied the nitro- part of nitrogen's construction.