It’s unclear when shart first appears, however, it was documented/originated on a Usenet group in 2001 and first appeared in the Urban Dictionary in 2003.
Earlier digital examples appear to be frequent errors for terms such as sharp and short.
Along Came Polly, a 2004 comedy, helped popularize the term. A character played by Philip Seymour Hoffman informs Ben Stiller that they must go since he “just sharted” in one scene.
“I tried to fart and a little shit came out,” Hoffman explains when Stiller is perplexed by the term.
