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 in 1 minute. 

The title O Brother, Where Art Thou? is, in fact, an allusion to another movie. In Preston Sturges' 1941 film Sullivan's Travels, the title character is a wealthy Hollywood filmmaker who (in the midst of the Depression) decides to make a film about the suffering of the "common people" in order to redeem himself from the usual commercial pap he has been wont to produce. Drawing his inspiration from fictional novel, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," written by "Sinclair Beckstein"-a clear allusion to the "realist" novels of Upton Sinclair and John Steinbeck-Sullivan sets off in hobo garb in order to experience first hand some "common people" of his own. By a series of highly comic accidents, Sullivan eventually winds up on a prison chain gang in the South.

I found this excerpt, and more , on this site. [link]

Of course, you might also want to check a few other sites, to see if anyone offers a different suggestion.

Best wishes, Clive

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 God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
However, please note that English was not God's first language. The above is a translation.

Here is a sonnet by Shakespeare.

Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
Spend'st thou thy fury on some worthless song,
Darkening thy power to lend base subjects light?
Return, forgetful Muse, and straight redeem
In gentle numbers time so idly spent;
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem,
And gives thy pen both skill and argument.
Rise, resty Muse, my love's sweet face survey
If time have any wrinkle graven there;
If any, be a satire to decay,
And make time's spoils despisèd everywhere.
Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life;
So thou prevent'st his scythe and crooked knife.

Best wishes, Clive

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