Meadow, pasture. Written Clon, Cloon, Clun — the same Irish word, cluain, in the spellings English gave it.
Cluain is a meadow, and specifically the dry, fertile meadow beside a river or bog that the early monasteries sought out — which is why so many Clon- names are monastic: Clonmacnoise, Clonfert, Clonard, Clones, Clontarf (the meadow of the bulls). A Clon- name is a good place to look for a ruined church.
Source: P. W. Joyce, The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places (1869–1913) · Logainm ↗
Meadow, pasture: it is the Irish cluain. Cluain is a meadow, and specifically the dry, fertile meadow beside a river or bog that the early monasteries sought out — which is why so many Clon- names are monastic: Clonmacnoise, Clonfert, Clonard, Clones, Clontarf (the meadow of the bulls). A Clon- name is a good place to look for a ruined church.
cluain. English spellings of the same word include Clon, Cloon, Clun, because the names were written down by ear.
Clonmel (Cluain Meala), Clones (Cluain Eois), Clonakilty (Cloich na Coillte).