Rum (endonym)

Rūm (Arabic: روم [ruːm], collective; singulative: رومي Rūmī [ˈruːmiː]; plural: أروام ʼArwām [ʔarˈwaːm]; Persian: روم Rum or رومیان Rumiyān, singular رومی Rumi; Turkish: Rûm or Rûmîler, singular Rûmî), also romanized as Roum, is a derivative of Parthian (frwm) terms, ultimately derived from Greek Ῥωμαῖοι (Rhomaioi, literally 'Romans').

Both terms are endonyms of the pre-Islamic inhabitants of Anatolia, the Middle East and the Balkans and date to when those regions were parts of the Eastern Roman Empire.

[2] The Greek (Ῥώμη), Middle Persian (hrōm), Parthian (frwm) versions of Rūm are found on the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, a monument declaring Shapur I's victory over Marcus Antonius Gordianus.

[4] Rûm is found in the pre-Islamic Namara inscription[5] and later in the Quran (7th century) in which it is used to refer to the contemporary Eastern Roman Empire under its Greek-speaking emperors (the Heraclian dynasty).

In modern Turkey Rum is still used to denote the Orthodox Christian native minority of Turkey, together with its pre-conquest remnant institutions such as the Rum Ortodoks Patrikhanesi, the Turkish designation of the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the figurehead for all of Orthodox Christianity and former religious leader of the Eastern Roman state.

Historical people so designated include the following: The Greek surname Roumeliotis stems from the word Rûm borrowed by Ottomans.

[citation needed] The Chinese during the Ming dynasty referred to the Ottomans as Lumi (魯迷), derived from Rum or Rumi.

[citation needed] Among the Muslim aristocracy of South Asia, the fez is known as the Rumi Topi (which means "hat of Rome or Byzantium").