The origin is Middle French https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballade_des_dames_du_temps_jadis "This was translated into English by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?",[3] for which he popularized the word "yesteryear" to translate Villon's antan.[4] The French word was used in its original sense of "last year", although both antan and the English yesteryear have now taken on a wider meaning of "years gone by". The phrase has also been translated as "But where are last year's snows?".[5]"
This enty also mentions Joseph Heller's "Catch-22", in which the protagonist witnesses his bomber crewmate Snowden dying, and "...asks 'Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?' in both French and English."
The phrase probably entered German through Richard Strauss and Berthold Brecht's works.
The origin is Middle French https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballade_des_dames_du_temps_jadis "This was translated into English by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?",[3] for which he popularized the word "yesteryear" to translate Villon's antan.[4] The French word was used in its original sense of "last year", although both antan and the English yesteryear have now taken on a wider meaning of "years gone by". The phrase has also been translated as "But where are last year's snows?".[5]"
This enty also mentions Joseph Heller's "Catch-22", in which the protagonist witnesses his bomber crewmate Snowden dying, and "...asks 'Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?' in both French and English."
The phrase probably entered German through Richard Strauss and Berthold Brecht's works.
I had no idea – thank you for sharing!