Word History of FRIEND: A friend is a lover, literally. The relationship between Latin amīcus “friend” and amō “I love” is clear, as is the relationship between Greek philos “friend” and phileō “I love.” In English, though, we have to go back a millennium before we see the verb related to friend. At that time, frēond, the Old English word for “friend,” was simply the present participle of the verb frēon, “to love.” The Germanic root behind this verb is *frī–, which meant “to like, love, be friendly to.” Closely linked to these concepts is that of “peace,” and in fact Germanic made a noun from this root, *frithu–, meaning exactly that. Ultimately descended from this noun are the personal names Frederick, “peaceful ruler,” and Siegfried, ”victory peace.” The root also shows up in the name of the Germanic deity Frigg, the goddess of love, who lives on today in the word Friday, “day of Frigg,” from an ancient translation of Latin Veneris diēs, “day of Venus.”
A marriage is a socially, sometimes religiously, and often legally recognized union between or among partners forming a family, legitimizing sexual relations between the partners and providing the context for legitimate production of offspring. Marriages are generally publicly declared in the context of a wedding ceremony.
so, from the above defined terms, Friend does not lag behind much from Life Partner, does it?
any of you wondering what I meant by all these references, I just want to say that,I find this compatible with my married life.
Now, I draw a bottomline: "Wife/ Life Partner is GOOD! Friend is BETTER! But Life partner who becomes friend with his wife or her husband is the BEST!"