When did the word ‘porting’ lose its notion of reusing similar code on another architecture and become synonymous with “rewriting in another language”?
This isn't a port at all. It represents a more major bifurcation than does even a traditional ‘fork’. It's very imprecise use of language.
Can't port be used to mean both changing platforms or languages?
You have a project. You want to change one thing about it, and as little else as possible. If you're porting to platforms maybe that's pretty easy these days, porting to languages is harder and you'll have to make more incidental changes along the way.
That’s why I was very specific in mentioning ‘architecture’ in my original question. What you’re mentioning is more akin to the definition of a platform.
This isn't a port at all. It represents a more major bifurcation than does even a traditional ‘fork’. It's very imprecise use of language.