Rûm (pronounced ˈrüm orˈru̇m), also transliterated as Roum or Rhum (in Koine Greek "Ρωμιοί" or "Romans", in Arabic الرُّومُ ar-Rūm, Persian/Turkish Rum, from Middle Persian Hrom) is a generic term used at different times in Turkey and the Muslim world to refer to:
- ethnocultural minorities such as the various formerly Koine Greek-speaking Christian diasporas or Greeks living outside of Greece- notably in Asia and the Middle East; members of the Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic communities of Syria, Lebanon, Northern Israel and the Hatay Province in Southern Turkey whose liturgy is still based on Koine Greek and Ancient Synagogal rites, and, more generally, to non-Muslims of European descent inhabiting Ottoman or Turkish territories
- geographic areas such as the Balkans and Anatolia generally, to the Byzantine Empire in particular, or to the ancient Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm in Early Medieval Turkey
The name is loaned from the Byzantine-Greek self-designation Ρωμιοί ("Romans"). The city of Rome itself is known in Arabic as روما Rūmā.
Read more about Rûm: Origins, Ottoman Usage, Modern Usage in Southern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and The Holy Land, In Islamic Spain