In horse racing sometimes the jockeys beat the horses to go faster and that's where this phrase originates. A horse who is worn out can't go any faster no matter how much it gets beat. It is pointless. So to beat a dead horse means to bring up a topic that cannot be changed or concluded. (source)
There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.


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