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Origin and history of nitrogen

nitrogen(n.)

colorless, odorless gaseous element, 1794, from French nitrogène, coined 1790 by French chemist Jean Antoine Chaptal (1756-1832), from Greek nitron "sodium carbonate" (see nitro-) + French gène "producing," from Greek -gen "giving birth to" (see -gen). The gas was identified in part by analysis of nitre. An earlier name for it was mephitic air (1772), and Lavoisier called it azote (see azo-). It forms about 78% of the weight of the Earth's atmosphere. Related: Nitrogenic; nitrogenous.

also from 1794

Entries linking to nitrogen

azo-

before vowels az-, word-forming element denoting the presence of nitrogen, used from late 19c. as combining form of azote (1791), the old term for "nitrogen," from Greek a- "not, without" (see a- (3)) + zoion "a living being" (from PIE root *gwei- "to live"). Azote was coined in French by Lavoisier & de Morveau because living things cannot survive in the pure gas.

-gen

word-forming element technically meaning "something produced," but mainly, in modern use, "thing that produces or causes," from French -gène (18c.), from Greek -genes "born of, produced by," which is from the same source as genos "birth," genea "race, family," from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups. First used in late 18th century French chemistry (see oxygen), it probably involves a misunderstanding of -genes, as though it meant "that which produces."

nitro-

before vowels nitr-, word-forming element used scientifically and indicating nitrogen, nitrate, or nitric acid; from Greek nitron (see nitre).

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Trends of nitrogen

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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fourteenth letter of the English alphabet; in chemistry, the symbol for nitrogen. In late Middle English writing, a and an commonly were joined to the following noun, if that word began with a vowel, which caused confusion over how such words ought to be divided when written sepa

cyan-

word-forming element used in science for the carbon-nitrogen compound radical, from a Latinized form of Greek kyanos "dark...

nitrous

The more precise use in chemistry (designating a compound in which the nitrogen has a lower valence than the corresponding...

air

c. 1300, "invisible gases that surround the earth," from Old French air "atmosphere, breeze, weather" (12c.), from Latin aer "air, lower atmosphere, sky," from Greek aēr (genitive aeros) "mist, haze, clouds," later "atmosphere" (perhaps related to aenai "to blow, breathe"), which

gas

1650s, from Dutch gas, probably from Greek khaos "empty space" (see chaos). The sound of Dutch "g" is roughly equivalent to that of Greek "kh." First used by Flemish chemist J.B. van Helmont (1577-1644), probably influenced by Paracelsus, who used khaos in an occult sense of "pro

sag

late 14c., saggen, "hang down unevenly," also in Middle English "sink, be mired, sink down," possibly from a Scandinavian source related to Old Norse sokkva "to sink," or from Middle Low German sacken "to settle, sink" (as dregs in wine), from denasalized derivative of Proto-Germ

element

c. 1300, "earth, air, fire, or water; one of the four things regarded by the ancients as the constituents of all things," from Old French element (10c.), from Latin elementum "rudiment, first principle, matter in its most basic form" (translating Greek stoikheion), origin and ori

atomic

"pertaining to atoms," 1670s as a philosophical term (see atomistic); scientific sense dates from 1811, from atom + -ic. Atomic number is attested from 1821; atomic mass is from 1848. Atomic energy is recorded by 1906 in the modern sense (as intra-atomic energy from 1903). March

number

c. 1300, "sum, aggregate of a collection," from Anglo-French noumbre, Old French nombre and directly from Latin numerus "a number, quantity," from PIE root *nem- "assign, allot; take." The meaning "written symbol or figure of arithmetic value" is from late 14c. The meaning "singl

pardon

c. 1300, pardoun, "papal indulgence, forgiveness of sins or wrongdoing," from Old French pardon, from pardoner "to grant; forgive" (11c., Modern French pardonner), "to grant, forgive," and directly from Medieval Latin perdonum, from Vulgar Latin *perdonare "to give wholeheartedly

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