vágyálomis

vágyálomis is a Hungarian neologism used in literary criticism to describe dream imagery that is driven by desire. The term is formed from vágy (desire) and álom (dream), with the adjectival suffix -is, yielding a modifier that can describe motifs, scenes, or atmospheres. The core sense is that the dream content is colored by longing or unfulfilled wishes, rather than by neutral or random dream logic. In practice, vágyálomis motifs appear when waking longing spills into sleep imagery, or when dream sequences crystallize a character’s unresolved desires.

Etymology and form: vágyálom combines vágy and álom; the suffix -is marks a relational or descriptive function in Hungarian. As a result, vágyálomis can modify nouns such as képi (imagery), motívum (motif), jelleg (characteristic), or atmoszféra (atmosphere).

Usage: The term is relatively recent and is mainly found in contemporary Hungarian criticism, poetry, and prose. It is not widely attested in standard dictionaries, and its precise scope may vary among scholars. When used, vágyálomis often signals a deliberate reliance on dream logic to express desire, sometimes overlapping with related concepts such as álomkép (dream image) or vágykép (desire image).

See also: vágy, álom, álomkép, dream imagery, Hungarian literary criticism, neologism.