A seanchaí ([ˈʃan̪ˠəxiː] or [ʃan̪ˠəˈxiː] - plural: seanchaithe [ˈʃan̪ˠəxɪhɪ]) is a traditional Irish storyteller/historian. A commonly encountered English spelling of the Irish word is shanachie.The word seanchaí, which was spelled seanchaidhe (plural seanchaidhthe) before the Irish-language spelling reform of 1948, means a bearer of "old lore" (seanchas).