Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,.... Now called Neapolis d; the same with "Sichem", or "Shechem", as appears from its situation,
near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; see
Genesis 33:18; and is either the same, only its termination is changed from "em" into "ar", as Achan into Achar, 1 Chronicles 2:7. Or it is a new name that was given it, and by which it went in the time of Christ; and might be so called, either from
סוכר, "Socher", which signifies a grave; because here, Joseph and the rest of the patriarchs were buried, Joshua 24:32. Or rather, it was a name of reproach, and so called, from שכר, "drunken"; since the Ephraimites, the posterity of Joseph, which dwelt in these parts, were infamous for the sin of drunkenness; see
Isaiah 28:1. Hence "Sychar Sichem", is "drunken Sichem"; mention is made in the Talmud e, of a place called סיכרא, "Sichra". The "parcel of ground", or of a "field", as in Genesis 33:19, is in the Persic version, called "a vineyard"; and so Nonnus renders it, "a field planted with vines"; and which may serve to confirm the above conjecture, concerning "Sychar" being a nickname.
d Hieron. Epitaph. Paulae, Tom. I. fol. 59. & R. Benjamin Itin. p. 38. e T. Bab. Bava Metzia, foi. 42. 1. & 83. 1. & Cholin, fol. 94.