So it's purely linguistic, Jimmy. Not really worth worrying about then, surely.

Marriages differ in all kinds of ways. There is when young people get married and plan to have a family. There is when two very career orientated people get married with no intention of having a family. There are people who live together for years and have children, and then decide to formalise. Or you have two retired people long past child-bearing getting married. Or couples who remarry after divorces, and set up a household with the children from both marriages.

They are all different, and it'd be quite easy to imagine a society where different words were used for them all. But it makes a lot of sense to just use the one word to cover a whole reange of situations.

One query though - what's the right term to use in relation to gay marriages?   What do they say in the ceremony? Husband for both men and wife for both women, perhaps? Partner sounds too much like business or bridge. I suppose "spouse" would be one option.