a. Complete the title so it will help you to remember the Roman enumeration set (I V X L C D M) - either restore the original mnemonics or create one yourself.

b. Create a longest possible English word by adding an eighth letter to the above set, allowing multiple use of each letter.. Example: if E were your choice then DECIDED might be a valid option - you will probably find a better solution.

c. You are free to use the letter V as a letter U , but clearly not both.

d. Any word appearing in a respectable source is allowed.

(In reply to re(2): Puzzle Thoughts: Part (b) and part (c) by Ady TZIDON)

One of the plurals of simillimum is simillima, another is simillimums. Simillima, for this puzzle, is invalid as there are two non-Roman numeral letters = S and A. Given that the letter U may be substituted by V [in accordance to (c.)], simillimums may be written as simillimvms leaving only the S as the non-Roman numeral letter in the word. And as the International English Scrabble(R) word list -- SOWPODS -- should be considered a respectable source, the limiting criteria given by (d.) is fulfilled.  The length of the word simillimums (or written simillimvms) is 11 letters, thus it seems to be the longest possible English word that contains only letters from the set (I V X L C D M ?) where ? represents the eighth letter of the set.   

Other than SOWPODS and the Collins Scrabble Words (CSW) word list, the plural, simillimums, can be found in the published journals and books in the following partial list: (As can be noted, the word has existed as early as 1894 in the English language):

p.93 of "Homeopathy in Orthopedics";
     Dr. Rajeev Saxena; 2004 Edition
p.195 of "New Cure of Consumption";
     J. Compton Burnett; 1894 3rd Edition
p.120 of "Third Millenium Homeopathy. The Early Decades";
     Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD; 2020
p.354 of "Homoeopathic Journal of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and
    Pediatrics"; W. F. Honan, M.D., editor; Volume 24; 1902
p.1252 of "Journal of the American Institute of Homoeopathy",
    Volume 8, 1916

Assuming that "word" can be defined to include compound words and that there is no defined restriction to exclude hyphenated or open compound words, there is a word of equal length in letters as SIMILILLIMUMS, i.e., the noun "COLLOID MILL" (eighth letter = O). An even 'longer' noun (14 letters) is "EXCLUDED MIDDLE" (eighth letter = E). Both open compound words can be found in some standard dictionaries. Though not clearly restricted by the givens, there may be an implication that "word" is meant to exclude open and hyphenated compounds.

Edited on February 9, 2022, 11:36 am

Posted by Dej Mar on 2022-02-08 16:06:04