...sometimes referred to as a "festinating gait," meaning it starts slowly and accellerates to become out of control.

Here's a more recent usage of the root:

Earl: (Tolloller or Mountararat - I forget which) (to Lord Chancellor)
"This gentleman is seen
With a maid of seventeen
A-taking of his dolce far niente "sweet nothings"
And wonders he'd achieve
For he asks us to believe
She's his mother - and he's nearly five-and-twenty!"

Lord Chancellor: (to Strephon)
"Recollect yourself, I pray,
And be careful what you say,
As the ancient Romans said festina lente !
For I really do not see
How so young a girl can be
The mother of a man of five-and-twenty"

-- W S Gilbert, Iolanthe - Act I Finale