Originating in the 16th century the word bully was a term of endearment meaning lover or boel in Dutch and brother or broeder Bully then evolved into a greeting for a jolly male friend By the mid 17th century an alternative meaning harasser of the weak had started to emerge The connection between the positive origins of bully and its now almost universal negative implication of preying on the weak is not hard to see That boisterous male friend probably just engaged in well too much jolly locker room talk 