-чия

Continues Old Church Slavonic -чии (-čii), of Oghur origin from Proto-Turkic *-či interpreted as *-i stem suffix. Akin to Etymology 2 and Bulgarian -джия (-džija), which were borrowed at a later time from Ottoman Turkish.

Morphologically, the suffix is declined as feminine, however, semantically, the derived terms are interpreted as masculine.

-чия • (-čija) m

1. Forms nouns depicting a representative of profession: -er, -ist
   • кърма (kǎrma, “stern”), кормило (kormilo, “steering wheel”) → кръмчия (krǎmčija), кормчия (kormčija, “helmsman, steersman”)
   • кораб (korab, “ship)”) → корабчия (korabčija, “sailor”)
   • сан (san, “rank, administrative position”) → самчия (samčija, “administrator”) (historical)
   • книга (kniga, “book”) → книгчия (knigčija, “bookkeeper”)

• Duridinov, Iv. (1991): "Наставки на -ии, -ия, -иѥ" in Граматика на Старобългарския език, published by Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, p. 186

-чия • (-čija) m (feminine equivalent -чийка)

1. alternative form of -джия (-džija, after vowels or voiced consonants)

   Alternative form: -чийче n (-čijče, diminutive)

Applied to stems ending in a voiceless consonants.