@screwtape It is a simplifcation. GLS started coordinating a bunch of TECO macros, calling them ?MACS.
EMACS / E where created (as in the binary) by RMS based on those macros.
And all hackers followed hacking on them in that form. GLS or Weinreb wrote a detailed history of those events. GLS even credits RMS as the responsible for the overall success of Emacs.