Sychar
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(John 4:5)—the Samaritan city near Jacob’s well. Many identify it with Shechem; others regard it as a separate settlement. The Old Syriac version has a form like Shokhar, which was sometimes interpreted as “drunken” and explained as a Jewish term of reproach for a Samaritan city. The Bordeaux Pilgrim in the fourth century appears to distinguish Sychar from Shechem, whereas the sixth-century pilgrim Antoninus identifies the place with Neapolis and Jacob’s well and reports a church connected with John the Baptist there.
If Sychar was not Shechem, the source suggests a small Samaritan settlement north of the well, perhaps near Askar. The encyclopedia ultimately prefers the common identification of Sychar with Shechem, while acknowledging that the evidence does not settle the question.