You say the word "wife" means garment, but there is no etymological evidence to support this. It is the word "beat" that is wrongly interpreted.
Allow me to offer the following exegesis: Latter day practitioners of the Sufic Arts, such as Micheal Jackson, has offered the key to understanding this verse.
In his hit song "Beat it" Micheal sung a catchy tune encouraging people he was upset with to "just beat it". Now, he obviously was not speaking of physically hurting someone, he was telling them to "beat the sidewalk with their feet". In other words, "go away".
So, the correct exegesis of verse 4:34 tells us as a last resort we should "leave them alone" or "beat it", and in no way does this verse sanction violence against women. We have no choice but to accept this explanation as the Quran is a book for all mankind at all times, and the exegeses of modern day Sufic Saints such as MJ must be respected.
This is how modern day Quranic Scholar Aisha Bewley came up with her "tasfir" and translation of verse 4:34.
I see you favour the more Persian/Shii Sufism of Michael Jackson.
So I think we have to agree to disagree here, as my teachers all defer to the Naqshbandi Hound Dog silsilah. In our understanding, there is definitely a sexual aspect to the King's shariah: it is, after all, about male/female relationships. Not simply "going away", but a turning away from the Lilith archetype (see Yusuf's act of turning away or, even better, my psychosexual gamebook "The Rainbow Connection" available from fernmind.com).
That is, the turning is a constraining of libido: because libido as Freud tells us is the nature of all perception/creation/speech/world construction.
But it is important to emphasize: it's just poetry, gangsta rap, a dark and ugly turn of phrase, shock value. A very unpleasant trope. It is obsolete -- in fact, all the Qur'an was obsolete almost the moment it was penned, because no one gets this except a minority of Sufi. Anyway, it goes without saying to you people (as you are neither psychopaths nor Muslims), but absolutely not a way to treat your partner in real life. Why use such an ugly trope then? Because it isn't addressed to psychopaths (though is of course its current main audience in the temples). Because the Qur'an is an essentially useless and ineffective communication -- when considering the majority. Thankfully most Muslims never touch it, so don't even need to consider these finer points.
There is a little King in every one of us, and a little Anne Margret: but it is important to understand who is boss. Apologies if that sounds sexist -- it is, but only microcosmically, because the verses apply identically (almost) for chicks (chicks with d*cks, if you'll pardon the vulgarity) as they do for dudes: it addresses the "King" aspect of our psyche, in relation to our perceptive/world view ("feminine" aspect).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05zNMx1yavAI respect Brewley's position, but my Islam is not disco, but Rock. Real Rock.
There is no Rock but Rock and the King is its Slave and Messenger.
Topic: Hyper-Salafism: the True Meaning of Islam