Remember, too, that the rules for how the letters are pronounced also may have been modified by what went before.

Look at the "ough" combination in English.

"Plough", "tough", "cough" have different sounds for the "ough". Unless we find a bunch of ancient Egyptians to walk us through it, all we can do is guess based on other translations (the letters of the pharaohs to other kingdoms, objects with multiple alphabets, etc.)

-- Byrd
Moderator, Hall of Ma'at