What language does the word hamster come from?

Hamsters are rodents, of the same zoological family as rats, mice, and guinea pigs and some zoologists say, rabbits. When I was a kid I thought hamsters were an artificial life formj-crazy as it sounds, you only saw mature ones for sale-never baby hamsters, and they seemed to be standard-bred to size rather like keys or industrial products. they are natural animals, of course, but are selectively bred as are many animals used for experimental and laboratory tasks.