XPost: alt.usage.english, rec.puzzles   
   From: HenHanna@NewsGrouper   
      
   >>>   By the way: Has English an expression something like:   
      
                  It's no use crying over spilt milk   
      
      
   __________________________________   
      
    the proverb—"it's no use crying over spilt milk"—originated in English.   
      
   The earliest known version appears in print in 1659, by Welsh-English   
   historian James Howell, who included it as "No weeping for shed milk" in his   
   collection of proverbs. This shows it was already an established English   
   saying by the mid-17th century and    
   likely existed in oral tradition even earlier.   
      
      
      
   Literary Influence:       Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the saying   
   appeared in English books, essays, and collections of proverbs, including in   
   works by famous writers like Jonathan Swift.      As English-language   
   literature became more widely    
   read across Europe, many proverbial sayings were translated and adopted into   
   other European languages.   
      
      
   __________________________________   
      
    proverb “It’s no use crying over spilt milkâ€�—meaning: don’t waste   
   time worrying about things that have already happened and can’t be   
   changed—is rendered or paraphrased in several languages:   
      
   Danish  -----       Det nytter ikke at græde over spildt mælk.   
      
      
   French   
              Ce qui est fait est fait. (What’s done is done.)   
      
              Il ne sert à rien de pleurer sur le lait renversé.   
      
   More idiomatic:   
               On ne revient pas en arrière. ("You can’t turn back.")   
      
      
      
   German   
             Es nützt nichts, über verschüttete Milch zu weinen.   
      
      
   Other idioms:      Was geschehen ist, ist geschehen. (“What's done is   
   done.â€�)   
      
      
      
   Spanish   
                No vale la pena llorar sobre la leche derramada.   
      
      
   More idiomatic:         A lo hecho, pecho.   
      
                     (Literally: “To what is done, [put your] che   
   tâ€�—meaning face what’s done with courage.)   
      
      
      
    Japanese   
                    覆水盆ã�«è¿”らã�š (fukusui bon ni kaerazu)   
      
      
   Italian   
                 Non serve a niente piangere sul latte versato.   
      
      
   Russian   
                 Что упало, то пропало.   
      
                (What has fallen is lost. — Idiomatic equivalent.)   
      
   Or: Поздно пить боржоми, когда почки    
   ¾Ñ‚казали.   
      
   (“It’s too late to drink Borjomi when the kidneys have failed.â€�)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)