CCC MS 122 was written in the 12th century by an Irish monk referencing a manuscript from over a century earlier written by Dub Innse, Bishop of Bangor, who brought the game back to Ireland from the court of Aethelstan, King of England(927-939). It was conveyed to him by a Frank and a 'Wise Roman', who was Israel(The Grammarian). Israel's manuscripts are written in latin with glosses written in Breton which tends to indicate he himself was likely a Breton that had fled the persecution of Bretons common in Frankia at that time. That a Frank and a Breton would create or teach a Tafl game seems unlikely, though not impossible, considering how recent the Duchy of Normandy(911) was formed which would have marked the beginings of peaceful cultural exchanges between the Franks and Norse.
Isidore of Seville, who is likely to have been known to the author of CCC MS 122, Dub innse, and Israel the Grammarian, in his manuscript Etymologiae(c. 600–625), an etymological encyclopedia, wrote about Alea:
De Tabula. Alea, id est, ludus tabulae, inventa a Graecis in otio Troiani belli, a quodam milite nomine Alea, a quo et ars nomen accepit. Tabula luditur pyrgo, calculis, tesserisque.
R.C. Bell in his book Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations postulates that towards the end of the 6th century the name Tabula was replaced by Alea citing this passage. H.J.R Murray, however, in A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess states the changes in terminology was from Alea to Tabula. Regardless the link between Alea and dice in games and games of chance defines the use of Alea in Latin.On Tabula. Alea, that is, the board game, was invented by the Greeks during the lulls in the Trojan War by a certain soldier named Alea, from whom the practice takes its name. The board game is played with a dice tumber, stones, and dice.
In A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities by John Murray Alea is defined as:
ALEA, gaming, or playing at a game of chance of any kind. Hence, alea, aleator, a gamester, a gambler. Playing with tali or tesserae was generally understood; because these were by far the most common games of chance among the Romans.
Furthermore Latin Learning and English Lore: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature by Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe and Andy Orchard cites a Latin-Irish glossary from c. 1100 which defines Alea as the Gaelic Taiplis which referenced Tabula/Tables/Backgammon prior to the arrival of Draughts for which its modern meaning implies.Alea sometimes denotes the implement used in playing, as in the phrase jacta alea est, "the die is cast," uttered by Julius Caesar, immediately before he crossed the Rubicon
So it would seem the word Alea is inextricably linked to games of chance and Israel being one of the foremost European scholars of the era would not have misused the term when naming the game. Also I find it unlikely that Dub Innse or the unnamed author of CCC MS 122 would be unfamiliar with the use of the term considering both were clergymen and Isidore's works were very prominent as well as both being Irish and that contemporary Latin-Irish glossary linking Alea to the Gaelic word for Tabula. That is why I find it hard to overlook a name which effectively boils down to Gospel Dice or Gospel Gambling and that the somewhat radial symmetry of the diagram is overshadowed by it.
