xterm: incorrect behavior with meta keys? rxvt and gnome-terminal behave correctly.

[Nick]

Does anyone know why Emacs-like keybindings such as Meta-b (back word) and
Meta-f (forward word) do not behave correctly in 'xterm', but behave
correctly in 'rxvt' and 'gnome-terminal'?

When pressing Meta_L-[b,p] in rxvt or gnome-terminal the Emacs behavior is
correct, jumping forwards and backwards a word.  When pressing the same in
'xterm' the following characters appear and the behavior isn't present:
Meta_L-b 'â ' , Meta_L-f ' æ'.  This occurs both on MacOS and Debian Linux
12.  I tested both ksh and bash shells.

I'm wondering if this is a bug in xterm, the shell or some other layer.
Any pointers on how to debug are appreciated.

atod
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