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 bull). 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 bull). 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).