rhinoceros: c.1300, from L. rhinoceros, from Gk. rhinokeros, from rhinos "nose" (a word of unknown origin) + keras "horn." Shortened form rhino is first attested 1884.
"What is the plural of rhinoceros? ... Well, Liddell and Scott seem to authorize 'rhinocerotes,' which is pedantic, but 'rhinoceroses' is not euphonious." [Sir Charles Eliot, "The East Africa Protectorate," 1905]
と書かれており、推測は当たっていました。 ついでにOnline Etymologyで"rhinoplasty" の項も見ると:
1842, earlier rhinoplastic (1823), from comb. form of Gk. rhinos "nose" + -plastia, from plastos "molded, formed" (see plastic).
とあり、"plastic" の語源も確認したくなり、更に "plastic" の項に進むと:
1632, "capable of shaping or molding," from L. plasticus, from Gk. plastikos "able to be molded, pertaining to molding," from plastos "molded," from plassein "to mold" (see plasma). Surgical sense of "remedying a deficiency of structure" is first recorded 1839. The noun meaning "solid substance that can be molded" is attested from 1905, originally of dental molds (Plasticine, a trade name for a modeling clay substitute, is from 1897). Main modern meaning, "synthetic product made from oil derivatives," first recorded 1909, coined by Leo Baekeland (see bakelite). Picked up in counterculture slang as an adj. meaning "false, superficial" (1963).
"plastic" は元々Surgical sense of "remedying a deficiency of structure" から始まり、現代のプラスティック "synthetic product made from oil derivatives" に変わっていったのですね。 そう言う意味でも "rhinoplasty" の命名はピッタリですね。
言葉って面白いとは思いませんか? こんなトリビアな話はハナはだ迷惑ですか?