The notion of probability was expressed by the Latin loanword "chance", adopted in Middle English from the late 13th century, literally describing an outcome as a "falling" (as it were of dice), via Old French "cheance" from Late Latin "cadentia" "falling". Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate or luck, was popular as an allegory in medieval times, and even though it was not strictly reconcilable with Christian theology, it became popular in learned circles of the High Middle Ages to portray her as a servant of God in distributing success or failure in a characteristically "fickle" or unpredictable way, thus introducing the notion of "chance".