Late 16th century; earliest use found in Richard Eden (c1520–1576), translator. From Ottoman Turkish rūmi (Turkish rumi), Persian rūmī inhabitant of the Ottoman Empire, and their etymon Arabic rūmī (noun) inhabitant of the Byzantine Empire or (in later use) of Greece, member of the Greek Orthodox Church, also (in extended use) foreigner in general, use as noun of rūmī (adjective) Byzantine, Greek, Greek Orthodox from rūm (collective noun) the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire collectively + -ī.