"place, location, position," 1610s, common in English c. 1640-1740, from Latin ubi "where?, in which place, in what place," relative pronominal adverb of place, ultimately from PIE *kwo-bhi- (source also of Sanskrit kuha, Old Church Slavonic kude "where"), locative case of pronominal root *kwo-. Ubi sunt, literally "where are" (1914), in reference to lamentations for the mutability of things is from a phrase used in certain Medieval Latin Christian works.