que sera seraint.adj.

Etymology: Apparently < the motto of the Russell family, che sara, sara, also che sera, sera (attested in both forms from the late 16th cent. or earlier), apparently intended as an Italian or Spanish rendering of the English proverb what must be must be at be v. Phrases 1c (compare Italian che what, and sarà, 3rd singular future indicative of essere to be, and Spanish que what, and será, 3rd singular future indicative of ser to be; compare also French que what, and sera, 3rd singular future indicative of être to be; however, in all of these languages the presence of a demonstrative pronoun would normally be expected in order to render the phrase grammatical).The phrase has been the heraldic motto of the Russell family, Earls (later Dukes) of Bedford, since the 16th cent.; compare:1585 G. Whetstone Life Earle of Bedford xxxii. sig. C To show he bilt his acttions of the Lord, Not..on fortunes smiling cheare: He chose Che sera, sera, for his word.1750 F. Blomefield Collectanea Cantabrigiensia 193 Russell Ar. a Lyon ramp. Gul. Motto. Che, Sara, Sara. A similar motto que sera sera also appears on a monumental brass probably dating from c1559 in St. Nicholas Church, Thames Ditton, Surrey, dedicated to Erasmus and Julyan Forde, and later described thus by Aubrey:a1697 J. Aubrey Nat. Hist. Surrey (1719) I. 234 The Crest is, a Demy Lion Rampant, crown'd. The motto. Que sera sera.Compare also the phrase, apparently intended as French, quy serra serra , which appears in the Latin and English macaronic poem Gaudete iusti in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.21 (c1475). In later use the phrase was hugely popularized by the song Que Sera, Sera, written for Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of his 1934 film The Man who knew too Much: see quot. 1956¹ at sense A. The song apparently echoes the Italian phrase che sarà sarà, used as a family motto in the 1954 film The Barefoot Contessa. For extensive discussion of the history of the expression see L. Hartman in Proverbium 30 (2013) 51–104.