Origin of 'Where Art Thou'?

Hi,

I wonder where the phrase "[O (insert name)], where art thou?" comes from. And could anyone explain the meaning to me as well, although I can imagine it.
I've seen it quite often recently in different variations, like in the movie "O Brother, ..." or even "O Google, ..." .

Did you try to search via Google? I dodid, and found this information i

hi Clive,

thanks for your answer. (I did search google, but only found information about the movie.)

However, I don't think you've answered my question.
I didnt specifically want to know where the makers of the movie "O Brother, where art thou?" got their inspiration for the title from ("...fictional novel ... written by Sinclair Beckstein").

I did want to know wher

Hi,

This sounds a bit like asking the origin of an everyday modern phrase like 'Where are you?'

However, OK, I'll try again. Here are a couple of interesting quotations, although I wouldn't claim that either is the origin of the phrase.

This is from the King James version of the Bible (Genesis, Chapter 3).

9 And the LORD *** called

Hi Clive,

I understand that it was a broad question, but my thinking was that it might have been a special phrase in history/literature and just for that reason remained popular (continuing your comment: compare "who art thou?" which is a lot less common, though only based on google hits)

So it seems like the phrase doesnt have one particular source and that is what I wanted to

Just as an aside -- there is a famous line in "Romeo and Juliet" where Juliet says "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" This is commonly misunderstood to mean "where are you, Romeo?" when in fact it means "why are you Romeo" -- or "why are you called Romeo?"

KhoffJust as an aside -- there is a famous line in "Romeo and Juliet" where Juliet says "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" This is commonly misunderstood to mean "where are you, Romeo?" when in fact it means "why are you Romeo" -- or "why are you called Romeo?"

You just filled in a hole in my literary background

0Its not 'Why are you Romeo', it means "why are you in Montague Romeo"..0-

0Hi,02br
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00What makes you interpret it that way?02br
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00Best wishes, Clive0-

"Wherefore art thou" is not the same as "Where art thou?" "Where art thou?" really does mean "where are you?". "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" means "Why are you Romeo?" It is Juliet asking why does Romeo have to be from the rival family of Montague. The Capulets (Juliet's family) and the Montagues (Romeo's family) were feuding. Think Hatfields and McCoys.

Anonymoushey,
I wonder where the phrase "[O (insert name)], where art thou?" comes from. And could anyone explain the meaning to me as well, although I can imagine it. I've seen it quite often recently in different variations, like in the movie "O Brother, ..." or even "O Google, ..." .

Thanks,
Kay


I think that the nature of the phrase allo