Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,.... Now called Neapolis ; 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 Ge 33:18; and is either the same, only its termination is changed from "em" into "ar", as Achan into Achar, 1Ch 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 fromrkwo, "Socher", which signifies a grave; because here, Joseph and the rest of the patriarchs were buried, Jos 24:32.
Or rather, it was a name of reproach, and so called, from rkv, "drunken"; since the Ephraimites, the posterity of Joseph, which dwelt in these parts, were infamous for the sin of drunkenness; see Isa 28:1.
Hence "Sychar Sichem", is "drunken Sichem"; mention is made in the Talmud , of a place called arkyo, "Sichra". The "parcel of ground", or of a "field", as in Ge 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.
Hieron. Epitaph. Paulae, Tom. I. fol. 59. & R. Benjamin Itin. p. 38. T. Bab. Bava Metzia, foi. 42. 1. & 83. 1. & Cholin, fol.