Possible etymology of the word in both Russian and English is from Old Avestan “hamaestar” meaning “opressor” - which regardless how funny it might sounds, means somebody back then observed them pretty thoroughly since hamsters in the wild are pretty fucking terrible to other hamsters or anything they can be terrible to without dying.
In Polish it’s Chomik, but Chomjak obviously fucking wins XD
Choomjak, it’s Obama
Possible etymology of the word in both Russian and English is from Old Avestan “hamaestar” meaning “opressor” - which regardless how funny it might sounds, means somebody back then observed them pretty thoroughly since hamsters in the wild are pretty fucking terrible to other hamsters or anything they can be terrible to without dying.