Classical Mandaic: ࡎࡀࡌ ࡆࡉࡅࡀ) is an uthra (angel or guardian) from the World of Light. Sam Ziwa is considered to be the Mandaean equivalent of Shem.[1][2]
Sam is also a Mandaean masculine given name (see for example Abdullah bar Sam).[3]
Sam Mana Smira
Sam Ziwa may be identified with Sam Mana Smira (Smir Ziwa 'pure first Radiance', or Sam Smir Ziwa; Smir means 'preserved'), an uthra is mentioned in Qolasta prayers 9, 14, 28, 77, and 171, and Right Ginza 3 and 5.4.[4]Yawar Mana Smira and Sam Smira Ziwa are mentioned in Right Ginza 14.[2] Lidzbarski (1920) translates Sam Mana Smira as "Sām, the well-preserved Mānā."[5]
^Drower, E. S. (1959). The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
^Lidzbarski, Mark. 1920. Mandäische Liturgien. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, phil.-hist. Klasse, NF 17.1. Berlin.
