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Roman Catechism
Names Of This Sacrament
The word matrimony is derived from the fact that the principal object which a female should propose to herself in marriage is to become a mother; or from the fact that to a mother it belongs to conceive, bring forth and train her offspring.
It is also called wedlock (conjugium) from joining together, because a lawful wife is united to her husband, as it were, by a common yoke.
It is called nuptials, because, as St. Ambrose observes, the bride veiled her face through modesty—a custom which would also seem to imply that she was to be subject and obedient to her husband.