It may be named due to its sound resembling that of a fart: Hemingstone cites this old Latin extract from the Liber Feodorum or Book of Fees.
It lists one Roland the Farter, who held Hemingstone manor in the county of Suffolk, for which he was obliged to perform "Unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum" (one jump, one whistle, and one fart) annually at the court of King Henry II every Christmas.