The slur in EE may be considered as a result of misunderstanding of the manuscript (perhaps inaccurate), if it were not for the extension of the slur written – most probably by Chopin – in FES. Therefore, it seems that a relevant indication of the overlapping phrases bothered Chopin both at the stage of preparing the Etude for print and many years later during the lessons. The versions of FE and GE1 and GE2 (→GE3) are most probably only conventional interpretations of the handwritten notation which can be seen in GC.
Compare the passage in the sources»
category imprint: Differences between sources
issues: Annotations in teaching copies, Annotations in FES
notation: Slurs